According to ancient Roman religion, Janus is the god of beginnings, transitions, and endings. He is the god with two faces, because he looks in two directions at once, the past and the future.

Do you want to be an effective leader? Then become two-faced.

Two-faced leaders see the connection between our obvious past and our probable future. They guide us through the transition by helping us end the past and begin the future.

It is exciting to follow a leader who sees a better future. However, there is one minor problem. The more successful a leader is at seeing visions by being two-faced, the more the leader risks becoming two-faced.

Namely hypocritical.

Powerful leaders often feel entitled to a different moral code. Hence, they are more likely to behave according to “do what I say, not what I do.”

But that’s two-faced in the wrong direction.

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.