In the Mel Brooks movie, History of the World, Mel plays several parts that are all completely over the top farces. In one scene he is King Louis XIV of France who was the totally decadent dictator who cared nothing for the peasants. Mel’s catch phrase is, “It’s good to be the King.” He proceeds to operate in a manner that shows utter contempt for his people thus leading to the French Revolution. At one point the King has to relieve himself and calls for the “pissboy” to come over and hold a bucket while Mel pees out a stream that most race horses would be jealous of. And that is not even the funniest part. Check out the chess game.
In this business, you can go from being the King to being the pissboy overnight. Sometimes for no good reason. Sometimes you’ve screwed up. So if you are running an office of any size you are likely to have a former “king” as a producer working for you. This could be good or bad.
Bob managed a former manager named Beth who obviously felt she had been wrongly removed from her manager post (not Bob’s shop.) Beth undermined Bob every chance she could so she could get Bob’s gig. As it turns out Beth had started her management career in this office and still had some allies. And in this case, Bob made just enough mistakes that Beth relentlessly exploited so the naïve Regional put Beth back on her throne. The reality was the Regional never understood the agenda. Bob was too oblivious and too stupid to see that every one of his mistakes would be amplified. In the end, the Regional really had no choice. Bob had to go and Beth was re-coronated.
Contrast that case with Ollie’s. In his branch he had both of the two prior managers. But here the facts were different. Ex-manager 1 was a distinguished guy who legitimately wanted to step back into production and escape the lunacy of management. Ex-manager 2 was a bit more conflicted. He lost out in a branch merger contest but he would later admit that he was glad to get out of the mess but had some lingering heartburn of being taken out. He didn’t misbehave working for Ollie and ultimately built a nice book and was happy about it – it just took a while to get happy.
Most old Kings just want to produce and/or slide their way into retirement. If you can pick their brains and avoid some of the landmines scattered on the road, you will be the winner. But if you have a Beth looking to get back on the throne, you better watch your back and be sure the regional is watching it too.
So what did we learn?
- Be sure you know the ex’s real agenda. Don’t guess. Keep your antenna up but don’t be paranoid unless the agenda is to get you fired.
- Respect the ex. You have to make the place yours and making changes will be a part of that. But sometimes they have background and advice you can really use. Its hard to find friends (other than this site) and you will fortunate to have that kind of relationship if you can. If they are trying to build a book, throw them a bone if you can.
- Know where any old political alliances exist. Just because. No you dummy. Because they can hurt you sometimes. This sort of palace intrigue happens everywhere but it doesn’t mean you have to send them all to the guillotine.
It is good to be the King. But it can also bad to be the King if the old King is still around.
What is your best King story? Email the editor at manageia2@gmail.com
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