“Out ye rogue! Play out the play!”
Henry IV, Part One
Act II, scene iv.
21st Century bureaucrats do not come in bowler hats, suits and ties. They wear khaki pants and trendy shirts. They read all the right business books and spin wondrous tales about brave new worlds. They talk about empowerment and enlightenment whilst they make everyone around them feel inadequate and afraid.
I encounter these modern day bureaucrats in my travels all the time. It is an occupational hazard.
Bureaucrats appear to be strong but they are the most fragile of creatures. They appear to be impenetrable but they quickly reveal themselves.
Instead of bowler hats, the new bureaucrats wear other people's thinking as if it is their own. They wear second hand knowledge with a style that becomes their own trademark. They form agenda's and hang onto them for dear life because once you borrow someone else's thinking, adapting it to changing circumstances and new knowledge is tougher - than to think!
Bureaucrats talk about business plans but can’t actually provide you one. They talk incessantly about the need for teamwork, culture, speed, empowerment, business results, innovation and accountability, in the meanwhile they create an environment of servitude, take every action possible to avoid these things as they fear them ever taking place as they will steal the one thing that they relish and depend upon - their own position power.
Bureaucrats talk about change as if no one except they understand it, but they don’t have a clue about what it takes to ignite it. They steal ideas from others who possess strategic knowledge, without ever giving credit to the source for fear that it may reveal their own frailty.
Bureaucrats never tell people directly that they will be fired, they are more cunning, they create the sense of impending doom, they create a culture where everyone has to pay homage to their every glance and word.
Leaders create leaders. Bureaucrats create followers. These sexy bureaucrats talk about innovation as if their life depended upon it. As executives they know that 'change' has become a procedural requirement. When they occupy the role of a CEO, COO, CFO, CMO, CHRO, CIO, CTO, etc... they C nothing but the power they can C-zzzzz.
If they occupy senior roles that do not have position power, in functions such as HR, OD, IT, Finance or if they are external new age, high tech consultants - they use jargon and power talk their way to a trendy obedience, that has become the fashion of so many organizations. Attend any conference, any day, in any town this week, you will see this lusty bureaucratic co-dependence on display on the stages and in the audience.
The modern day bureaucrat knows how to spin ideas and tell compelling stories about learning and change, but they are not prepared for the chaotic nature of the beast, the conflicts and confusion and unruly sense of surprise and constant unease that come with the ikky process we conveniently call creativity. If their agenda is questioned, they revert to wielding the club - their position power and/or connections to ensure compliance.
Modern day bureaucrats are worse than their pen pushing predecessors, at least they were transparent in their motives and actions.
The suave new variety play out their fantastic roles so well and are so enamored (addicted) by the compliance that follows, that they eventually convince themselves of the sanity (sanctity) of their plain faced duplicity. You can hold the mirror up in front of them, but they cannot see how they have created and perpetuate their own lie.
Here is how this game is played: The power of so many people paying attention and following your every word is over-powering. So much so, that it becomes difficult to think, explore, experiment, for fear of being wrong and losing face, so the double bind is locked in.
People who do the work, end up working twice as hard to succeed in spite of their so called leadership, only to have these same 'leaders' take credit for the work that they are making it so difficult to do.
Where or how could they even begin to unravel the threads of this plot? So the dance of folly goes on! Everyone knows and plays their part, even if it is killing them and the business they are in.
On the surface life appears to be smooth, below the smiling faces a rage is ready to explode. The environment of fear has its casualties, some people get ill, for others it disrupts or even destroys their home lives, others quit and stay, others move on, people eventually take out this rage against on each other, unaware of the root cause of their angst. The sexy bureaucrat in the meanwhile watches from above, wondering "what is wrong with these people?".
It does not take much to uncover the truth, scratch and sniff the surface and it unleashes months sometimes years of betrayal, bold faced lies and fear ladened duplicity.
The modern bureaucrat has only one pre-occupation, like Sméagol in Lord of the Rings it is all about ‘The Precious” the position power that makes them look so smart. Their sub conscious motive is to ensure two outcomes: Firstly to ensure people below feel inadequate and insecure and secondly to ensure the people above them (e.g. Board of Directors) buy into their spin city.
In a bureaucracy everyone stands in a circle and the first person to do anything that does not have the bureaucrats name on it, loses.
21st Century bureaucrats read all the right books and reports, but they are only as smart as their last conversation. They rinse and repeat other people’s wisdom. They are called leaders because that's their job title. They dispense witty sermons to keep the questions at bay and the unwashed masses at bay, as they weave their brand of soft terror.
Bureaucrats in our century do not wear bowler hats, The glance they wear is enough to command instant obedience. When they enter a room, everyone's senses shift to high alert.
Our newly fashioned bureaucrats apply the same ruse as their predator predecessors. Their position power and social authority serves one purpose, to become the central cog in the wheel of their own self-importance.
Bureaucrats think they are inspiring, passion and joy because they have made so many rousing speeches about the importance of innovation, but their deeds and the motives of their followers betray their carefully crafted speeches.
The trains run on time, but no one knows where they are going and are slowly forgetting why they are on board. The destination is the sustenance of the power monger. If I had my way I would tear off their khaki pants, rip off the trend shirts, hang a bowler hat on their inflated ego and send them packing.
"O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment"
Henry V
Prologue
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