That’s sort of an oxymoron.
The original figureheads were carved into the bow of a ship. They exist to express the spirit of the boat and to demonstrate its power and resilience.
Here’s an AI recreation of the most famous one:
The sailors were wise enough to understand that the purpose of a figurehead isn’t to steer the boat, trim the sails or do much of anything at all.
Now that most of us don’t sail in schooners, it’s possible we’ve lost the thread. When we organize around leaders, it’s easy to imagine that our goal is to have a thoughtful and resilient long-term thinker, who just happens to be the well-carved powerful avatar of our dreams.
It might be that we need one without getting the other.
