The cult of personality inside companies

 Hello all, 

 It took me some months to sort some things out but now I think it's time to get back on the horse and ride the lightning! After much reflection and study (reading most of the time) it's time to pour some knowledge in the world. As you may think everything that is going to be written here will take out most of you out of your comfort zones. 

 This is not about being pessimistic about everything, but being an realist and just about putting the cards on the table. So with this being said let's get to the matter at hand! 

We will start with a definition: ''a cult of personality or cult of the leader arises when a country's regime – or, more rarely, an individual – uses the techniques of mass media, propaganda, the big lie, spectacle, the arts, patriotism, and government - organized demonstrations and rallies to create an idealized, heroic, and worshipful image of a leader, often through unquestioning flattery and praise''. 

Kim Jong Un the last dictator (still on power in North Korea) from a dynasty family of dictators. 

 Pretty interesting way to start an article on cult of personality inside companies, won't you say? I mean one may ask: what is that ruthless serial killer doing here, and why am I reading this? :). I'll start making light in the darkness that lays before you by using a magic wand of words and wisdom - I'll be your Gandalf through this perilous journey in this article.

 So why Kim? Why in the earth did I put Kim there when everybody is expecting some nice article with sweet corporate language and after a point dull content?. Well Kim is here just to prove a point: that no matter how incompetent the leader is, how weak, how blind, with the right type of people behind him the ''puppeteers'' he can be portrayed as the greatest leader of them all. This together with the package that everything is ''OK'' in his country or organisation. 

 It's exactly the same in companies. No difference whatsoever, except for the executions, starvation and depriving the people of the basic human rights and all the other things that ruthless dictators do. Inside companies, where the corporate culture is flawed and patched to the worst of the social behaviors , the same type of phenomenon occurs: isolate the leader, make him believe that everything is OK and do your biddings behind him. Always show him nice graphs, nice Powerpoint presentations and keep him with the head in the smoke. Add some ''happy birthday to you bo$$'' on all social media so that everybody sees how much the employees care for their boss, and you find yourself in a nice ''Kim Company Universe''.

 Many will say this is not possible!  As a modern manager you should be the kind of person that is not susceptible to such things, and moreover you have to see thru the mire and identify the people that sell smoke for personal gain. Well unfortunately this phenomenon is wide spread mainly in a country like Romania with  a strong communist past. And this is the problem: Romania has had for 60 years of communism. And communism was based on making a cult out of most incompetent and untrained people. Put them in charge, use them as ''the face'', for the personal gain of tier 1,2,3 or lower people.

 Companies that do such things tend to hide themselves after big words, big PR investment, usually done by HR department that needs to keep the smoke screen up and running. Nowadays more and more, and in the last 10 years, the trend of  ''we are like a family in this company'' became something of the new normal. Very nice on paper, like communism was. What is happening in reality is that ''the family'' becomes ''la famiglia'' - your italian mafia organisation. And remember all of this under the watchful eye of the supreme leader. But in order for this to work, there is also one important thing that makes the package complete: the bo$$! Well the thing is that you need a person that is ignorant enough to look away from this, but as pleasing as it can be to be ''the face'' of the company. Normally these types are easily controlled, easily fooled and baited with corporate incentives like: car, phone, and the social status that comes with that. Well there are people that are going to ''sell'' the corporate culture for those incentives, and there are others that will take care so that the smoke screen is up an running. 

You can recognize a company where the family was replaced by ''la famiglia'' after some pretty clear indicators: 

 - you will see people expressing their love and admiration for the leader even if the leader was fired due to misconduct, money laundry, sexual scandals, or even involving company's assets in it's personal life ;

- you will see people making everything possible so that the whole world knows that the ''bo$$'' has had his birthday and all the world must cherish, applaud and acknowledge that ;

- Newspaper from Romania cheering the birth of Nicolae Ceausescu - the communist romanian dictator .''Scanteia'' (The Spark) was the main communist propaganda newspaper - before internet was invented :). 

 - always portaring ''the family'' like feeling as a strong point of the company but in fact this is being used to enter the private lives of people; 

 - using the social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,Instagram as means of extreme propaganda for mindless and unimportant things. Making a big fuss out of nothing ( 5 tones of wheat / 1 hectare of land ) - the romanians will know what does this mean :)).

 - and last but not least taking care of the company's rating on the sites where people are giving their opinions about their employer. You don't want that the boss, that sits comfy in his ivory tower, having limited access to information, to stumbleupon bad company ratings. If there are no 5* raise the alarm an put your posting people to work. And I could go on with many more of these things. 

Make no mistake: making PR for your company, creating a strong image, showing unity and harmony is ok. If you combine that with the golden rule ''practice what you preach''  you will attract the grey matter that you need in your company. But if you want to attract people to work on your smoke screen, start bending the rules, keep ''the boss'' in his ivory tower and invest PR in things that promote the image of perfection, just to hide a dysfunctional organization. It will last bu it will not be eternal, and when it will break it will have dire consequences, and unfortunately in the process many ''dissidents'' will be eliminated because they cannot embrace the ''new normal''.

In the end remember this: there is no such thing as a perfect woking place. Except your own company where you work for you. But there is a thing called choice! Never choose to go where the first big smile appears and the ''family like feeling'' will be sold to you before anything else. That should be your first warning that you are dealing with a big heap of lies! Search, listen, observe!

Thank you for reading .