Anyone who’s worked in a big corporation–or indeed in a small one–has probably seen (or probably even practiced) what might perhaps best be called “buttering up the boss.” It’s not a pretty sight, but it’s certainly a common one.
Gratuitous praise for the boss, however, both diminishes the flatterer and the boss who accepts it. Smart bosses don’t just discount the flattery; they treat a flatterer as a Uriah Heep who can’t be trusted.
That’s why the video of a meeting where Trump praised himself and then asked his entire Cabinet to lavishly follow suit is so exquisitely nauseating. I have observed some pretty creepy boss behaviors in my time, but nothing–nothing!–comparable to this.
The Trump Cabinet kiss-a-thon is so off-the-charts weird that I can’t think of a management book or guru that even addresses this sort of thing. The only parallel examples I can find is the way North Korean officials praise the Kim family.
I’ve several times compiled and published stories about “bosses from hell.” One of the most common is the boss who says: “I’ve already decided to do this, but I want your honest opinion about how it’s a good idea.”
I can even imagine that happening in a meeting, resulting a round robin everyone agreeing with the boss. Of course, bosses who surround themselves with “Yes Men” and “Yes Women” are famously corporate failures waiting to happen.
Even so, that kind wooden-headedness is comprehensible in the context of corporate politics. Bosses sometimes make a gut decision and then look to their staff to justify it after the fact. It’s not effective management, but it’s within the bounds of normalcy.
But a “go round the table” of everybody praising the boss?
Put aside your politics for a second. Put aside whether you think Trump is a necessary anodyne to an ossified bureaucratic elite. I get that concept. I really do. But how insecure and self-centered would a boss need to be to encourage praises from a captive audience?
What’s a bit frightening is that some members of his cabinet have run large organizations or been in leadership positions themselves. What must they be thinking, in their heart of hearts, after being dragooned into this posterior osculation fest?
I don’t know about you, but if I were forced to join in on (or even observe up close) a mass slathering of praise for my boss, I’d want to take three hot showers when the meeting was over, just to remove the psychic effluvia.
Anyway, here’s the video:
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