I’m told it takes ruthlessness to succeed in what you want to do in life. Probably the ruthlessness implicit in being able to act without regard for ethics or morals. It calls to mind some things I’ve read before, on the use of violence and/or ruthlessness to cow people and make them submit to you. It’s more a mind game than a reality; if you are able to demonstrate to the other that you are willing and able to act without conscience, you will put fear in that person.
That person will fear you, will take needless care and might just slip up, while you remain calm and collected. The threat of force is, of course, much worse than the application of it (though some might dispute this).
Take our shorty colleague. The threat of his influence with one of our clients silences the rest of us. People who disagree with him invariably end up answering too many questions from the client, leading us to believe that some influence had been exerted. The problem is, some of the issues raised are genuine, but no one sees that; everyone sees the spectre of his presence behind the nerve-wracking brace of queries.
And this inevitably makes people dismissive of queries from this client, and more so, dismissive of our shorty. Simply put, no one trusts him, and he has so far played his game to his advantage. But after 8 years in the industry and with no promotion in sight, it makes other clients think him incompetent. A price to pay? A heavy price, then.
The problem is one of circumventing the problem. I survive in the above situation by being technical and trying to do a good job; but one slip and I will wallow with the rest, that I know. Not only does shorty exert influence with this client, this shorty also stirs the pot constantly.
I wonder if the solution is more ruthlessness.
There is this moment when Marlon Brando’s “Kurtz”, face striped in shadows, describes a humanitarian visit to a Vietnamese village, to innoculate children against polio. A simple act that might have protected the 200+ children in that village. A few days later, Kurtz’s team goes back to the village only to find rotting in a little pile a heap of hacked off arms where injections were administered, belonging of course to said children.
Can you fathom that kind of determination? That kind of will? In Sparta in ancient times, children who were born were brought before a council of elders who would then judge if the child was worthy of the Spartan’s strict, militaristic lifestyle. Those found unfit would be cast off a cliff, known in Greek as the ‘place of rejection’.
That kind of determination is bought in blood.
In this day and age, I suppose, ruthlessness can take the form of a simple “no”. I wonder if I can say “no” in this instance.
