# A Tragedy of Management By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-02-10 Managers are paid by organizations to not be themselves. They take on the identities deemed the most valuable by the organization. These identities tow the company line, make organizational choices over individual ones, and operate with absolute authority. Rarely will you see a manager's true identity. It is a miracle to witness an executive's true identity as they have the most experience being something they are not. In my experience, a manager revealing their true identity is the most impactful thing a manager can do. It shows their humanity, their doubt, and their inner conflict and suffering. It may also reveal to you their sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies. Both positive and negative sides are impactful. One leads to inspiration and solidarity. The other leads to finding a new job as quickly as possible. Managers are most likely to reveal their true selves during the worst of times for them personally. It does not happen during bad organizational times, such as layoffs, but when the manager's suffering is personal. They were attacked in a meeting, experienced a personal loss, didn't get their way, or reached the end of their rope. If you have a trusting relationship with a manager, these revealed moments of authenticity are surreal as it breaks all organizational norms and expectations. This is unfortunate for so many reasons, not the least of which is how quickly we have learned to operate within artificially sterile environments and respond robotically to imaginary metrics that matter. This is the tragedy of the modern organization. The tragedy of the post-modern organization is that they can't exist as they are the valid antithesis and critique of modern organizations. Is there an opportunity to pay managers to be authentically themselves? Or, at the very least, allow managers (and workers) to have multiple and paradoxical identities that represent their collective humanity? Ignoring these universally experienced realities causes much of the intrinsic and extrinsic pain that impedes our path to progress. #### Related Items [[Management]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Progress]] [[The Human Condition]] [[Suffering]] [[Identity]]