Often I’ll be following the news and see a public figure exhibiting behaviour I’ve encountered in my agency life. It used to happen a fair bit with Trump. I would often read about that way his staff would tippy toe around his volatile mood. If he was in a rage they would hold back bad news, and try to butter him up with good news or praise. Any time things were shared with him, it needed to be done in a way that accommodated his impatience/short attention span/illiteracy etc. And then any garbage idea he farted back at them would be furiously agreed with. Obviously no one I’ve worked with is on The Donald’s level, but boy I have seen versions of it. CEO’s or CCO’s who - if you caught them at a bad time - would just torch a week or more of creative work on a whim. Even worse, sometimes they would replace it with an idea of their own - that they have spent mere moments thinking on - and you now have to run with it. You just have to cop it of course. Being in the top job, that’s his prerogative. (I’ve only ever seen these traits in men lol).
Whilst it isn’t Trumpy, I also got that pang of familiarity when I saw this leaked text from NSW Premier Dominic Perrotet, to the CEO of Sydney Trains Matt Longland. I find it such a repulsive trait in a leader, when they just pile the pressure on someone beneath them to deliver a particular outcome…without any guidance on how they might get there. It amounts to ‘Just so you know, I’m going to be super pissed off (and blame you!) if this doesn’t come off’. I’ve seen CCO’s lay it on thick with GADs: ‘You have to get this idea sold - it’s a guaranteed award winner.’ I’ve also heard it from clients, who sometimes like to just re-iterate - sometimes mid-preso - that this product launch is CRUCIAL for the business. Or that the sales targets for it are HIGHLY ambitious. Okay. I am fully onboard with those outcomes. Let’s discuss how we can get there.
