1-Minute Insight: How Fear Drives Behaviour

To understand a man, understand his fears ….

An ex-colleague was puzzled about an incident at work and asked my view. His Team was preparing for an important presentation to the CEO and the Team had prepared a PowerPoint deck to cover all the anticipated questions.

My ex-colleague found it strange when his Director removed most of the slides saying it was not necessary. While reluctant, he did as he was told.

At the presentation, as expected, the CEO asked the anticipated questions. As the Team did not cover the points during the brief, the Team looked incompetent.

My ex-colleague was puzzled why his own Director would sabotage the Team.

I shared my view that I believe his Director is likely unsure of his own competency, and hence value to the CEO. Thus, the only way he can keep his value (and his job) is to make others look incompetent so that the CEO will have no choice but to rely on him.

I added that the presence of this fear means that this will not be the last time (or only time) that his Director will undermine him. As such, if he planned to stay on in the organization, in order to survive, he will need to find alternate ways to demonstrate his competency to the CEO.

I assured my ex-colleague that all is not lost and that with this newfound understanding of the fear that is driving his Director’s actions, he will now be better able to protect himself.