Leadership and authenticity are supposed bedfellows. In my class the #1 characteristic executives demand from leaders is integrity. In organisations, deficiencies in these areas are sniffed out quickly and boardroom coups quickly follow. Not so in politics. Conveniently the KPI’s for politicians are elections. If you are lucky, you get to choose every 4 years. The ridiculous hypocrisy shown yesterday as hordes of world leaders showed up in Paris for a poll boosting photo op is laughable. What for instance was the Russian foreign minister doing there? Supporting press freedom? Last year Russia imprisoned a journalist for “insulting a public servant.” Netanyahu and Abbas managed to stand 20 meters from each other yet were unable to offer each other a handshake. Such a small gesture might have gone a long way to solving some problems in the Middle East. Meanwhile close by, among the so called “normal people”, two members of the great Abrahamic faiths stood arms interlocked, each bearing a sign around the neck: “I am Jewish and I love Muslims.” “I am Muslim and I love Jews.”

How delightful that representatives of that great secular state Turkey showed up. No matter that Turkey is in the bottom 100 countries for press freedom and imprisons more journalists than any other country. Oh and let’s not forget the good ol’ USA, whose police force detained and allegedly assaulted journalists from the Washington Post after the recent Fergusson riots. I could go on. The murders of twelve journalists, 4 innocents and 3 police officers elsewhere in France this week is a disgrace and the several million people who came out in support are righteously indignant. Our “leaders,” however should be advised to keep a lower profile until they get their own houses in order.