Board of Mis-Directors Favorite Tactics
Tactic #2: Pick on Everything!
by Diana Kardia and Karen Williams
What are you wearing? That’s a pukey shade of green. Isn’t that hemline length so last season? Where did those wrinkles come from? Is that a scuff on your shoe? Your underwear is too old.
You know the saying: the devil is in the details? The devil in question is the Board of Mis-Directors. The Board loves details because they never end and are open to endless interpretation and manipulation. They’re ripe for all the exaggeration and distortion that the Board so loves and excels at.
This Board tactic disconnects details from their context, creating from them a new and bizarrely skewed “reality”, overwhelming us in a deluge of doubt, and distracting us from what actually does matter – actual reality, for example.
And there is always another detail they can give their SuperGrow formula to – something else to critique, worry about, or regret; an endless supply of targets – and ammunition!
Details are important – but they have only two functions:
- they are the specific expression of your overall intent, and
- they are a feedback mechanism – are you achieving what you intended?
Either way, details help us move forward, giving us a means to actualize our goals.
The key: Moving forward
Being able to move forward is key. In the world the Board rules, there is no real movement. The details are too big – they become roadblocks. And any actions you might take just become more fodder for critique. Was that the right action? Did you do it right? Was your timing right? And on and on and on. The Board keeps us caught in a spiral of details that lead nowhere.
Underneath it all, this tactic is really about activating our fear of disapproval and our felt need to fit in. Details show our individuality, causing us and our actions to stand out and be noticed. What the Board is really saying in their detailed harangue is that we should smooth away all our distinctions, becoming exactly and only what is expected of us.
Remember this the next time the Board starts their litany – their purpose is not to guide you toward better details (as they imply) but rather to erase you, in your uniqueness, completely. Nothing like the prospect of annihilation to put any detail in its just perspective!