Bulldozer00's Blog

It’s sad, so sad. It’s a sad, sad situation. And it’s gettin’ more absurd. – Elton John

Sometimes, actually, a lot of times, I like to commiserate with like-minded people (isn’t that what community is all uh-boot?). Thus, when I recently hooked up with new e-friend and author of “Why Your Boss Is Programmed To Be A DICtator“, Chetan Dhruve, we commiserated about the current stagnant state of leadership in the business world. In one of our exchanges, Mr. Dhruve asked:

May I request a favor. Could you please post your review of my book on Amazon.com? This is because many readers email me their comments directly after reading the book – with the result that the number of reviews is low (only 3 reviews currently). In many cases, readers are afraid to put up reviews for fear of being being found out and victimized at their workplaces, and hence don’t want to take any chances. In fact, many people have told me that they are afraid to even place the book on their workplace desks in full view, simply because of the book’s title. – Chetan Dhruve

Of course, that statement sent a shiver down my spine, but I did what he asked because – a man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do (for me, replace the word “man” with “child“). Upon further dialog, Chetan continued on with a couple of other scary vignettes:

A friend of mine (in the US) who loved the book bought 10 copies to give to clients. He then had the thought: “What if my clients feel that I’m implying they are bad bosses? Maybe I will lose their contracts.” So instead of giving the books to clients, he gave the books to relatives. He told me all this saying, “The book’s title will scare people, and it’s going to be a problem for you.” Indeed, he has proven to be correct.

A similar thing happened with another friend of mine. She gave a copy of my book as a gift to a friend of hers, whereupon the friend was instantly offended and got defensive saying, “I promise I will try hard to be a good boss.” This was even before reading the back cover of the book!

The irony is that the book doesn’t blame individuals but the system. And these gut-reaction behaviors only prove the point that we have dictatorship systems at our workplaces. It’s terrible, absolutely terrible, to know that people are frightened to simply have such a book on their table! I didn’t anticipate that the fear levels would be so high, that too in a free country.

I hate to sound like a know-it-all (well, maybe not), but I coulda told Chetan of the reality of his last sentence before he shockingly discovered it for himself. No matter how much one abstracts an anti-hierarchy message and directs it away from specific people, people above level 0 in a hierarchy are going to get offended at the slightest hint that you resonate with Chetan’s blasphemous message. After all, hierarchy has a sacred origin and religion has always been at the top of the heap when it comes to instilling fear into people, no?.

The statements that make people mad are the ones they worry might be believed. I suspect the statements that make people maddest are those they worry might be true. – Paul Graham

Related Articles

• Leader or Dictator?
• Your Chetan Heart