The American View: Bloodless Sport

Power dynamics at the executive level can seem peculiar to an outsider. Instead of violence or decisive battles, many organisations’ internal power struggles seem to consist largely of petty insults and minor public posturing. That’s a reflection of zero-sum credibility mindset that many companies hold combined with a low tolerance for open aggression. Watching the U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate debates on 30^th and 31^st July was painful. Sure, there were a few good zingers that earned a laugh, however those entertaining moments weren’t compelling enough to make the rest of the experience bearable. The four hours of ‘debating’ became a cringeworthy slog. There were far too many people competing for the spotlight. Making things worse, all twenty contenders were hobbled: they were allotted insufficient time to make compelling arguments and were frequently cut off by the moderators. It made sense that their ‘best’ lines were the snarky counters they employed against one another. What really chapped my hide was that all of these presidential contenders were ostensibly on the same team. Several speakers attempted to reassure the audience that – despite their petty squabbling – they all hold similar values and that all of them are better than the opposition party’s offering. Saying it is one thing; in practice, all of their squabbling over petty differences and long-smouldering grudges made it seem like they’d all lost sight of the competition. Worse, the Democratic party debates sounded exactly like the Republican party debates from the last election cycle. Both events featured the same sly zingers, the same feigned indignation, the same parade of unmoored numbers and statistics, and the same desperate ‘LOOK AT ME!’ posturing. They might well have been the same event, interpreted by two different directors. There’s a reason for that, and it has nothing to do with politicians. Politics, yes. That is to say, it’s about human nature, office politics, and the struggle for credibility. It’s about competition and the limited means that white-collar rivals sometimes have for standing out in a crowded field when traditional methods of establishing dominance are frowned upon by culture or policy.

Bloodsport (1988 action movie)

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POC is Keil Hubert, keil.hubert@gmail.com Follow him on Twitter at @keilhubert. You can buy his books on IT leadership, IT interviewing, horrible bosses and understanding workplace culture at the Amazon Kindle Store. Keil Hubert is the head of Security Training and Awareness for OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to joining OCC, Keil has been a U.S. Army medical IT officer, a U.S.A.F. Cyberspace Operations officer, a small businessman, an author, and several different variations of commercial sector IT consultant. Keil deconstructed a cybersecurity breach in his presentation at TEISS 2014, and has served as Business Reporter’s resident U.S. ‘blogger since 2012. His books on applied leadership, business culture, and talent management are available on Amazon.com. Keil is based out of Dallas, Texas.