Can a cynic be trusted to lead courageously? No, says Rushworth Kidder, founding director of the Center for Global Ethics in Rockland, Maine. He explained when I interviewed him last year.

A cynic by definition doesn’t trust in a principle of goodness (theistic or otherwise) to redeem suffering for a cause or principle. That means the cynic has no confidence that anything will ever make his principled stand worthwhile. The cynic worries, to a morally debilitating degree, about being a chump.

“In the end, the cynic will have nothing in which he can trust,” Kidder said, “and will therefore not be morally courageous when he most needs to be.”

In Kidder’s view, a cynic just doesn’t have the mettle to be a moral leader. When forced to choose between moral principle and personal safety, the cynic can be expected to opt for self-preservation.

Kidder notes that cynics aren’t all bad by any means. They’re fun to be around, tell great jokes and often bring important insights that others miss. Yet because of their orientation toward the universe, Kidder in his consulting work recommends that organizations never appoint cynics to top leadership positions.