Worklife: Decoding the ‘Oppenheimers’ in the workplace

It’s Oppenheimer times and the ramblings rankle across workplaces too, wherein the “gray” jostles with the “grey” for the elusive binary behaviours. It can also take form of Barbenheimer, wherein the dark satire of the seasoned parleys with the fantasy world of the amigos, creating a heady mix that is not for the faint-hearted corporate connoisseur.

While the corporate Oppenheimer throws in the dilemmas that plagues decision-making and responsibility-taking, the holier-than-thou employer value proposition seduces the new kid in the block to a Barbie(aric) world.

Whereas the protagonist in Nolan’s ‘reel’ Oppenheimer navigates from being a genius catalyst of change to being responsible for toxicity on a scale unprecedented to mankind, politics notwithstanding, the ‘real’ worklife resonance is not too far away.

How often do we see toxic leadership that is patronised and rewarded on revenues alone and not on positive team spirit? How often do we see cloning of such atrocious behaviour in the hierarchy until the system eventually stops the pretenders from creating a chain reaction that is detrimental to the culture in the long run? More importantly, is there a moral or human dilemma involved or one doesn’t argue against the success paradox? Food for thought, isn’t it?

Jack Welch, one of the most talked about CEOs of GE, had a leadership style that measured talents on behaviours and results, and the star performer who created the best revenues but failed miserably on team dynamics was booted out! Certain performers, who were high on behaviours but lagging on results, were professionally counselled and mentored before jumping on the PIP (performance improvement plan) stick.

In a fiercely competitive business landscape, money-making is the sole agenda of all business enterprises and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, the Oppenheimers need to be identified and tackled so that the Armageddon doesn’t sink on myopic commercialism alone.

At the same time, the Barbie phenomenon is also not lost for corporate vibrance, as workplaces are getting fleet-footed and fun-led, encouraging such light moments. Fantasy and reality are not great roommates, though, and the house energies need to be safeguarded on expectation-setting and objectivity.

I recall an Oppenheimer moment earlier in my worklife, wherein a genius leader, who knew how to transform businesses, didn’t care about people centricity and professionalism. A simple request for candidate feedback would be met by consistent declines without reason and remarks such as, “Do you want me to comment on the colour of his shirt?” Thankfully, the toxicity couldn’t prevail for long and management showed him the door, creating an anti-Oppenheimer precedent that worked wonders for team morale and business.

We often see leaders toeing the unreasonable diktat for far too long and many in my industry network abhor the way some organisations are run on fear and stick; exploitation-and-consequences modus operandi is somehow patronised. We do see a serious lack of inspiration, and leaders who operate beyond their authority matrix to actually stand up for what’s right take a call on unreasonable dilemmas, have difficult conversations with the powers that be and are respected for their forthrightness.

Covid-19, though a cathartic moment, brought forth many instances wherein Oppenheimer scenarios were exposed, analysed and debunked with new workplace realities. It is also about genius talents who lost their way, succumbed to the crab mentality and pseudo moral support that didn’t exist in the first place.

At the same time, let’s not forget the value of counselling, mentorship and having a guiding hand for anyone going through such dilemmas in organisations, wherein “what if” confusion dominates the mind and clear thinking gets muddled. Most have Risk Committees, Remuneration Committees and Strategy Committees, but very few firms have a Mental Resilience and Workplace Dilemmas committee that is manned by neutral honorary advisers with no skin in the game.

As they say, “an organisation is as great as people in it and the people are as great as the organisation allows them to be”.

wknd@khaleejtimes.com