Page 114 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

bad information—for example, the false charge that Dukakis had been
treated for a mental illness—could be just as valuable as good informa-
tion in any race for the top.
So I fed Marty a lie. I told him that somebody in my division was in
trouble and not going to make his numbers.
Naturally, Marty repeated this to the higher-ups at the company. When
it turned out that my employee had actually performed spectacularly,
Marty looked foolish. I let this happen over and over, and soon, nobody
really trusted Marty when he had something unpleasant to say about me.
His game had been exposed.
Mission accomplished. Of course, as soon as I became Marty’s boss, I
proved that he was right all along. I fired him, just as he’d always thought
I would.

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