Page 128 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

HANDLING A SNAKE IN YOUR OWN NEST
You may be a great person, a benevolent person, and a kind person, and
your employees may appreciate that. But understand that nobody likes
being told what to do. I didn’t like my parents telling me what to do, and
they were my parents—let alone some stranger who through an accident
of fate happened to be my boss.
So try not to be too, too surprised if you get the sense that somebody
who works for you wants to become your boss. If he is just ambitious and
not trying to undermine you, fine. You
can use him to your advantage. He’ll
TRY NOT TO BE
work like a dog to prove himself.
TOO, TOO
If he is trying to undermine you, on
SURPRISED IF YOU
the other hand, by saying bad things
GET THE SENSE
about you behind your back and trying
THAT SOMEBODY
to negotiate with the other powers in
WHO WORKS FOR
the organization, then you have to fire
YOU WANTS TO
him. You don’t transfer—you fire him.
BECOME YOUR
Never on performance, ever, because
BOSS.
presumably he is doing well. So elimi-
nate his job, split the job in two, what-
ever it takes. Make sure that it is a complete surprise, too, so that he has
no time to launch a defense that might damage you.
Just walk in one morning and get rid of him. People like this are too
impatient to wait their turn, and it is tough enough trying to watch your
back against attacks from outside enemies. But attacks from your own
people? I don’t think so.

IF YOU ARE THE SNAKE IN THE NEST, STRIKE QUICKLY
Earlier, I said that most rivalries are sieges. There is an exception, how-
ever. If you decide that you are going to take your boss’s job from her, that
is a coup.

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