Summary

Leadership often faces unfair attacks from individuals within an organization who aim to deflect attention from their own wrongdoings.

Abstract

The article discusses the challenges leaders face when they become targets of baseless attacks by those with something to hide within an organization. It emphasizes that such attacks are strategic, designed to distract and occupy the leader, thereby allowing the wrongdoers to continue their nefarious activities without scrutiny. The text provides real-world examples, such as a CFO who insinuated an affair between the President and HR Director to divert attention from his own affair, and a supply chain executive who was rumored to have fake degrees. The article advises leaders to be vigilant, understand organizational dynamics, and respond strategically rather than reactively to such attacks. It suggests that by maintaining focus on their duties and leveraging intuition, leaders can navigate through these distractions and uncover the truth.

Opinions

Leaders are often unfairly targeted by individuals who engage in counterintuitive actions to protect their own interests.
Wrongdoers may attempt to tarnish the reputation of leaders to create diversions and avoid being held accountable for their actions.
It is crucial for leaders to not only defend themselves against baseless accusations but also to identify the source and motive behind such attacks.
Leaders should use their position and resources, such as framing and displaying credentials or hosting events, to counteract malicious rumors.
The article implies that a proactive and strategic approach, as opposed to a defensive one, is more effective in dealing with attacks aimed at discrediting a leader.
Leadership requires a keen understanding of the organizational dynamic and the ability to listen to one's intuition to manage such situations effectively.
The text suggests that by focusing on their responsibilities and maintaining a clear head, leaders can overcome these challenges and lead successfully.

Leadership

Leaders Are the Target of Those with Something to Hide

Unfair attacks distract and confuse the boss

“If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.” — Dale Carnegie

Being the boss has never been a straightforward job. If you are a leader doing an excellent job and attacked for no reason, look around to find the culprit. Know that it’s not personal. It’s business. It sounds silly because the actions of the wicked are counterintuitive; people who are doing the wrong thing in any organization will unfairly target the Leader for some version of that same wrong thing. The factor to search for is someone who benefits from the trouble caused by baseless accusations. The reason is simple.

It’s Not Me; It’s You

Wrongdoers sully the reputations of those who could stop their nefarious behavior. By doing so, they accomplish two significant distractions. Eyes are directed away from their activities, and the Leader is forced to defend themselves. It is difficult to do good work and pay close attention to others when under attack.

For example, our Corporate Finance Officer (CFO) was having an affair with his assistant. It was only a matter of time before the affair would come to light and become a problem. To buy time, in a public executive staff meeting, the CFO insinuated our President was having an affair with the Human Resource Director (HR). The allegation reached the corporate offices in a flash. Corporate started an investigation into the behavior of the President and the HR director.

With his diversion in place, the CFO went merrily on with his love affair.

It took four months of investigation to determine nothing was going on between the subjects of their investigation. By the time corporate interviewed me, they realized the alleged affair between the President and Human Resource Director was a ruse. Luckily, someone spilled the actual beans before I was interviewed, so I did not need to. I would have since the CFO’s office was right next to mine. By then, I knew what was going on. Sometimes I imagined I could hear them going at it.

Another Misdirection

“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

The reputation of one of my mentees, a Supply Chain executive, was under attack. We needed to find out who had reason to distract her. It could have been anyone. She could not turn away from doing what she was hired to do, no matter how unnerved she felt at the ugly rumors going around about her schooling and degrees. The talk was she had brought her degrees from an internet diploma mill university.

Our first move was to get her multiple degrees framed and hung in her office.

Our second move was to sponsor her alumni club’s monthly meeting at her building. She could accommodate both in-person and Zoom meetings.

Our third move was to ask Human Resources to let us know who else went to her school so she could invite them to the meeting.

During their review, HR discovered someone had exaggerated their education. They did not meet the requirement for their job. Damn. How did that happen? The rumors about my mentee stopped immediately. There was now an actual scandal in process for the curious and troublemakers to watch.

The attack on her had been a dodge — a misdirection. The rumors would only have gotten worse if she had responded as expected with a vigorous defense. But because we knew there was a culprit somewhere, we could address the problem with a clear head.

Leaders Must Understand The Dynamic

Leaders must understand the organizational dynamic of everyone in their orbit. Listen to your intuition. If you simply react, you will miss the mark. These sorts of attacks are unfair and uncalled for, but they exist. The perpetrators do it because they fear repercussions from their behavior. They imagine themselves as on-site internet trolls free from real-world consequences. Often the attack is not about you but some else.

Leadership is hard. Always keep your eyes open, ears listening, and head up when attacked. Do your job. Don’t be distracted and you will extract the truth.

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Toni Crowe retired as the Vice President of Operations to pursue her dream of being a writer. Toni has written six books, two of which won the 2019 Reader’s Choice Gold Awards. Her bestselling business book, “Bullets and Bosses Don’t Have Friends: How Do You Manage A Man Sitting With His Dick in His Hand?” was one of the winners. Her first book, “Never a $7 Whore” was the other.

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