James Bailey is a professor and Stacy and Jonathan Hochberg Fellow of Leadership Development at the George Washington University School of Business. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

Charismatic corporate leaders seem to regularly become global cultural icons. They capture the zeitgeist with edifying TED Talks, best-selling autobiographies and social media presences that rival those of rock stars.

Global fame is not foolproof when government investigators come knocking." James Bailey

For many executives, cultural celebrity is good branding and an inoculant to merciless P&Ls or disapproving boards of directors. A shrewd CEO can use Twitter to counter rumors on Wall Street or dodge a public relations nightmare.

But recent disruptions in the tech industry suggest that celebrity may have its limits. Elon Musk of Tesla and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, who have both carefully cultivated public personas, have found that global fame is not foolproof when government investigators come knocking.

In fact, corporate celebs may find their renown even more fleeting than other high achievers due to the stakes and scale. Leading a billion-dollar, international conglomerate through a volatile period comes with responsibilities that far outstrip those of authors or actors.

Mostly, the ranks of global celebrities are populated with sports stars and entertainers. Here and there, a public servant captures icon status. Think presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama or US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Some scientists have enjoyed the mantel of celebrity (Stephen Hawking and NASA's Katherine Johnson), but they are few and far between. The same holds true for celebrity artists or popular writers (J.K. Rowling and Stephen King).

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