Motivation, Doubt, and Faith

The more one hears about the managing style of George W. Bush - avoiding dissent, ignoring criticism, absolute faith that one's will can overcome any possible obstacles, etc. - the more familiar it becomes. Where have we seen that sort of thing before? Oh, right: Dilbert.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden writes:

I arrived at certain theories about George W. Bush by a strange route, which was thinking about the class of writers who take rejection worst. I don’t mean the ones who’re hurt worst; I couldn’t possibly judge that. I’m talking about the ones who react with aggressive denial. And it seemed to me that the ones I most often saw doing that were middle-aged white guys with a management background.

As a class, their writing was on average no better nor worse than other comparable group of authors, and many of them were as modest and persevering as any writer you could meet. Still, when when I looked at the writers who reacted to their first few rejections with a sense of massively affronted entitlement, followed by the swift conviction that a publishing industry that gave them that reaction must be broken, it was remarkable how many of them belonged to that class.

You could spin out a lot of thumb-sucking theory about this, but my belief is I was seeing the habits of mind and character inculcated by a certain strain of American corporate culture. To put it succinctly, imagine that Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss has decided he’s going to be a bestselling writer, only he keeps getting rejected.

They [the Pointy Haired Bosses] appear to believe that whatever success they’ve had in life is solely due to their own shrewdness and hard work. It’s likewise an article of faith that they have an absolute right to succeed, if only they believe in their own success hard enough and are steadfast in its pursuit; and furthermore, that nonbelievers’ input not only doesn’t matter, but ought to be resolutely ignored.

Facts and mechanisms are not the issue. Their relationship with success is mystical and emotional. Thus, the person who quibbles with the details of their plan is their enemy rather than their ally. Such impediments will of course be overcome if the employee correctly understands and implements the magic PHB force of will. After all, that’s what force of will is there for. In the meantime, by expressing reservations the employee has potentially weakened the all-important PHB confidence. That’s not being a good employee.

Hayden has much, much more in the way of analysis of the Pointed Haired Boss and, in particular, the PHB's relationship with George W. Bush. It's simultaneously fascinating and frightening: Dilbert's Pointy Haired Boss, instilled with a messianic vision of his place in history, may be running the United States of America.

Where are Dilbert, Wally, and the PHB's secretary when you need them?

Read More:

• 2004 Elections
• Election Polls
• George W. Bush
• John Kerry
• War on Terrorism