The American presidential election of 2020 ended in the early hours of Thursday 7 January 2021, when the US Congress counted and certified the ballots of the Electoral College in the aftermath of a violent, Trump-supporting mob breaching the US Capitol. The spectacle of this assault may be analyzed for years to come, yet it is immediately clear that it was the result of authoritarian impulses on the part of the defeated president. Critical Leadership Studies has concerned itself with the ‘problematization’ of leadership theory, often examining distributions of power both within society and within the discipline itself. This article takes its title from Brené Brown’s podcast, ‘Unlocking Us’, torqueing it in an effort to understand these events and their causes as a group dynamic that manifested between Trump and his supporters. I also make the argument that the anxiety fomented and falsely contained by Trump has its deeper origins in what Kuhn labeled ‘paradigm shifts’. To deconstruct the kind of leadership that took place in the run-up to and the aftermath of the 2020 election—darkly charismatic, authoritarian, and cultish—I employ three lenses of analysis: paradigm shifts as progenitors of crisis; ‘basic assumption’ patterns of work avoidance in groups; and ‘holding environments’ as the imposition of salutary boundaries that foster growth. In combination, these three lenses offer an interpretation of recent events in America that enhances the dialectical approach proposed by Critical Leadership Theory.

2020年美国总统大选在2021年1月7日星期四凌晨结束，当时美国国会计数并核实了选举学院的选票，这是特朗普支持的暴力暴民违反美国国会大厦的结果。这种攻击的场面可能会在未来数年进行分析，但立即清楚的是，这是被击败总统对总统的独裁性冲动的结果。批判性领导力研究关注领导力理论的“问题化”，经常检查社会内部和学科内部的权力分配。本文取自布伦内·布朗（BrenéBrown）的播客“解锁我们”，其标题是努力将这些事件及其成因理解为在特朗普及其支持者之间表现出来的群体动力而引起的。我还提出这样的论点，即特朗普激起和错误遏制的焦虑根源于库恩所称的“范式转变”。为了解构在2020年大选之前和之后所发生的那种领导方式（黑暗的魅力，威权主义和文化主义），我采用了三种分析视角：范式转变是危机的始祖。小组中避免工作的“基本假设”模式；和“控制环境”作为促进增长的有益边界的强加。结合起来，这三个视角提供了对美国近期事件的解释，这增强了批判性领导理论提出的辩证方法。为了解构在2020年大选之前和之后所发生的那种领导方式（黑暗的魅力，威权主义和文化主义），我采用了三种分析视角：范式转变是危机的始祖。小组中避免工作的“基本假设”模式；和“控制环境”作为促进增长的有益边界的强加。结合起来，这三个视角提供了对美国近期事件的解释，这增强了批判性领导理论提出的辩证方法。为了解构在2020年大选之前和之后所发生的那种领导方式（黑暗的魅力，威权主义和文化主义），我采用了三种分析视角：范式转变是危机的始祖。小组中避免工作的“基本假设”模式；和“控制环境”作为促进增长的有益边界的强加。结合起来，这三个视角提供了对美国近期事件的解释，这增强了批判性领导理论提出的辩证方法。和“控制环境”作为促进增长的有益边界的强加。结合起来，这三个视角提供了对美国近期事件的解释，这增强了批判性领导理论提出的辩证方法。和“控制环境”作为促进增长的有益边界的强加。结合起来，这三个视角提供了对美国近期事件的解释，这增强了批判性领导理论提出的辩证方法。