What ‘The Audacity’ Gets Right About Tech’s Lonely Leaders

The series, which aired on AMC this spring and arrived on Netflix in August, has drawn TV critics’ attention. The author watched it with a different perspective: executives share things they keep from boards, teams and partners. The show’s strongest insight, they argue, is that leaders often feel isolated but do not say so aloud.

In the seventh episode, Duncan tells his therapist, Dr. JoAnne Felder, that fear of humiliation drives every small lie. Felder says everyone spins stories, even to themselves. The coach recognizes that pattern in clients who catastrophize a boss’s reaction or fixate on the worst outcome of a meeting. Pausing, identifying what matters and choosing one small next step can help the anxious narrative loosen its grip.

Duncan’s explosive behavior also rings true to the author. In the first episode, he screams at his housekeeper for failing to catch a tungsten cube. The coach says they have worked with executives whose CEOs berated staff, even at companies voted “best place to work.” Founders and boards may tolerate such conduct, leaving senior staff with limited options. In one case, coaching focused on managing the situation long enough for an executive to leave for a healthier workplace.

The show also captures how achievement can stop feeling sufficient. Carl Bardolph, the billionaire Duncan wants to emulate, is described by a teenager as “the saddest man you’ve ever seen.” The coach recalls a client who had led teams through successive acquisitions and an exit but still felt he had not done enough. They explored what “enough” meant, who he wanted to be beyond his title and what work was costing him at home. He eventually took a role with conditions including remote or hybrid work, time with his children and partner, work-life balance and room to travel.

Some details are less convincing. The coach has never been blackmailed by a client and considers that atypical; the show’s jargon also feels exaggerated. “Quant ben,” short for quantifiable benefits, was unfamiliar. The series’ suggestion that most billionaires choose control over saving the world is also at odds with the coach’s experience: most leaders they work with want to make a positive difference, though the worst examples get more attention.

Other touches rang true: a character calls an AI “a digital child,” a phrase the coach has heard from an executive. The realtor’s claim that “$2.5 mil is a steal around here” and the depiction of office space costing $175 an hour also landed. The Audacity folds stock fraud, blackmail, ayahuasca, a tungsten cube and a wildfire into eight hour-long episodes. AMC renewed it for a second season before the first aired. The coach gives it a thumbs-up as a composite portrait of tech work and two thumbs-up for entertainment, but says it is unlikely to leave viewers feeling better about the industry.