James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© February 22, 2013
REFERENCE:
Not since March 4, 2005 have I published an essay in this series. That last essay, No. 32 was titled, “Religion and the Ways of Man.”
We have had an uncommon shift in “the ways of man” in terms of sensibility, sociability and civility since that time.
Our society teeters on the brink not so much of economic collapse as social conflict and disintegration. Chaos and conflict, distrust and mischief disrupt our lives by innuendo, lies, deceits and rumors. Personality assassination has become fader for the electronic social media.
Since 9/11, we have retreated from our best inclinations into combative paranoia. We no longer trust human nature to be human.
This distrust has given birth to the idea that terrorists or miscreants lurk around every corner, justifying personal arsenals and police in every school. At the very least, it is reasoned; school principals should be armed with guns and teachers with mace.
A president once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Now fear is our most important product. Fear justifies draconian measures to combat veiled threats with surveillance cameras everywhere complemented by pilotless drones policing the skies.
Trust, temperance and common sense have been the price for this folly.
From my window on the world, people contact me and share their misgivings, apprehensions and insecurities. Often, it is personal and close to my own experience.
KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE AND YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER
Once, competence, confidence and congeniality were enough to ensure success in one’s chosen profession. That is no longer true. In this contentious climate of avarice, envy, hostility and distrust, a person needs to be on his or her guard as little is, as it seems.
It has taken me a long life to recognize this terrible truth. For in nearly everyone’s inner circle, no matter what the enterprise, Othello’s Iago lurks in the midst. By guile, cunning and ill will, an Iago, armed with disinformation and malicious obedience, can derail a career or a marriage. Iago does this by appearing to be one’s loyal friend when the aim is to compromise or sully one’s reputation by destroying a relationship or a career.
If it hasn’t happened to you, be aware it can at any time. It happened to me more than once in my career, and each time that it did, I retreated into the conceit that no one could hurt me but myself. Not true. People can hurt you when they play Iago and you do nothing.
In my most recent case, now some years ago, as an executive in Europe with an American company, a friend told me that one of my direct reports was going over my head to my superior and whispering Iago like morsels of mischief into his ear, such as I wasn’t happy in my job, I didn’t respect him, and I didn’t do very much. I laughed at this nonsense because none of it was true, and so I did nothing.
Eventually, like Othello came to believe his wife Desdemona was cheating on him, my boss came to the conclusion that I didn’t care. Iago managed to confirm this by giving my secretary a bogus date for an important company social event. When BB and I didn’t show up, it was proof of my insouciance. Matters went downhill from there.
What I should have done, and I share this with readers so that they might nip the situation in the bud should it happen to them, is this:
(1) Explored what my friend was telling me that Iago was saying about me, weighing its credence, not flippantly disregarding it entirely as I did;
(2) Watched Iago closely, a person, who incidentally, was always telling me how great I was and how I was the best person the United States had ever sent to Europe in my position. Taking that with a grain of salt, I should have let Iago know in a subtle way that I knew what he was about;
(3) For damage control, I should have gone to my boss and delicately explored our relationship, gradually coming to the issue of trust, duty, dedication and responsibility, studying his reaction to the surfacing of these concepts vis-à-vis their relationship to my function;
(4) Taking nothing that Iago said at face value, I should have played his game insofar as warming up to him and keeping him as close as humanly possible.
(5) If this failed, I should have sent him back to his home country.
Of course, I did nothing of the sort.
* * *
It is not an uncommon problem. CEO Lee Iacocca at Ford was let go by Chairman of the Board Henry Ford II, after The Ford Motor Company had one of its greatest years ever under Iacocca’s leadership.
“Why are you firing me?” Iacocca asked in exasperation, pointing out Ford’s P&L success. “Well, sometimes,” Ford answered, “you just don’t like somebody.”
Now, it doesn’t take an astrophysicist to see that Iago was lurking somewhere in the midst. But Iacocca, proud, arrogant and self-righteous, didn’t think anyone could hurt him. Somebody always can, no matter how high one flies, and often it is the least suspected individual in one’s firmament.
* * *
No comments:
Post a Comment