Management By Deception

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them". - (Act II, Scene V) Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare . One of the few quotes I still remember from my 11th Grade GCE O Level English Literature. The problem lies with those who have greatness thrust upon them and all of sudden they hold high positions and have no idea of how to act or what to do, a case of little knowledge is dangerous. The more sensible ones will work within their team to go places.

Then, you get the overconfident and cocky types, that think they can outsmart everyone and hence prove their perceived superiority. "Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive" as Sir Walter Scott said. The journey of deception commences as a policy of divide and conquer coupled with playing the ends against the middle in a sneaky and deviousway goes into gear in an attempt to outsmart a team of experienced professionals. The problem with professionals is that they do not allow anything to prevent them from achieving their goals. So they persevere and plod on which is taken as a sign of weakness and an indication that the policy is working. Little do the powers that be how transparent they are and the amount of contempt they generate. Eventually, the support wanes and the boss fails or the get so disengaged, disillusioned and disgusted that when an opportunity beckons they just move on and go.

Management by deception works for a while because professionals want to succeed and prove mostly to themselves that they are up to the task. Once it is over they move on and the deception disintegrates.

The timeless adage, honesty is the best policy will always withstand the test of time