The Laws of the Bosses:: The Roadmap to the Realm of Power

By Tilawan

Who are the bosses? How do they come to power? What are their preferences? How brutal can they be? What have they got to do with a sense of humour? What do bosses do in times of danger? What justice is there to expect from the boss? Who are the subordinates? How can the subordinates survive the bosses? And what has spirit and soul got to do with power play? What are the dangers of body language in the world of the bosses? Where are the answers? They are in The Laws of the Bosses.

This book is an impressive illustration of power display by bosses who make their own laws and live by them. The book contains over seventy true-life accounts of power, highlighting the intrigues of several bosses from all walks of life and from all parts of the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jun 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496983411

Tilawan

Suleiman Tilawan is the writer of The New Adventures of SST and the Motivational Speaker: The Game Planner.

Book preview

Prologue

Most people in a position of authority do not want to be seen as a boss. They are just not comfortable with the title boss. They would rather be addressed as a leader, a term they find more amiable. Even the much vilified Adolf Hitler desired nothing more than to be called "the fuehrer," the beloved leader of his people.

To buttress the preference for being called a leader rather than boss, you can look at this subtle comparison: a boss says I and a leader says we. This implies that being called a boss is not such a good thing. And so, many people in positions of authority prefer not to be addressed as boss, and it has become accepted to see them as anything but a boss.

Don’t be carried away with such sloganeering, as anyone who exercises power over another is a boss in a way. If you are on a journey of personal pursuit and come across a person in authority, always assume he is a boss and approach him in such a manner. With that, you are in a better position to confront any eventuality that might come your way. And if you are someone in a position of authority, no matter what you desire to be called, always remember you are a boss in several ways, and your ability to operate as one will solidify your position in power. To be successful in doing that, you will need to know what being a boss all is about. And that is what this book can help you achieve.

Why write about the laws of the bosses? Well, because they determine the lives of millions of ordinary people in several ways. You cannot talk about successful living without knowing the laws the bosses operate by. And such laws are found in all walks of life, be it in business, public service, religion, or academia. We need to be interested in the laws of the bosses, because they are the laws that prevail. The bosses might not know everything, but if they know enough to be the boss, then they know what matters most. Having a moralistic view of how these bosses acquire power would not change anything. What matters is that they are in control. Your opinion wouldn’t set a moral precedent where you are (less emotion, please: you would live longer).

Bosses are basically leaders with a difference, and like the leaders you find in all walks of life, they could be good or bad. The essence is that they are different from others in exerting an overbearing influence on their subordinates, which is unlike leaders, who operate in a less authoritative fashion. Bosses are leaders hungry for more power than they should have. And since our written laws don’t seem to make enough provision for their huge appetite, they need to make up their own laws. A boss’s burning desire for greater power is propelled by selfish ambition or a passion for achievement in the face of strong opposition. Added to these traits is a deep craving to change the status quo. However, no matter what the motive, bosses still need to go outside the ordinary laws to get their power.

Why are bosses always in need of more power? It is clear that power is a commodity that gets exhausted as the day goes by, whether it is utilised or not, and bosses tend to utilise it fast. So in order for them to avoid its eventual exhaustion, they need to acquire more and store it. And because bosses want to remain in power perpetually, they need to neutralise those opposed to such ambition. This would only be possible when they acquire more power than that guaranteed by the system.

The laws of the bosses are the guidelines they apply in coming to power, controlling power, and most importantly, holding on to power. Why do ordinary people need to know about the laws of the bosses? Maybe some of them want to be bosses too. I don’t think that’s a bad idea, is it? Or some just want to get a better deal from those who control their lives (no need to hope for a fair deal, life is never fair). Or maybe it is just to achieve the desire of every small fish in a big pond: to survive. Yes, to survive and prosper in a turbulent and competitive world, the knowledge of the law is always supreme, be it the written laws or the prevailing ones.

And for this, the ordinary man must always obey the laws wherever he goes. Your first encounter with the law is most important, as it sets your reputation before the law. And your reputation always precedes you. When you are found to be law abiding, the law will always be there to protect you. But if you are found to be a law breaker, the law will be busy protecting itself.

We usually disturb ourselves with the law enforcers, but that’s a waste of time, as they are not the issue. The power is with the law itself. The law is like the rushing waters of a steep waterfall. It gets more effective as it strikes against the lower plains and weaker barriers; always remember that the law will take its course, especially against the weak. So always learn the law, whoever’s law it is.

People rendering a service to a higher authority often refer to themselves as workers, staff, or colleagues. It’s good, but in reality, they are nothing but subordinates to the person they serve. And he is the boss, no matter what they call him.

Still want to know how bosses differ from other leaders? The answer is not in positive or negative terms. It does not depend on what good or what wrong was committed. It is just that a boss is one who is not only effectively in charge; he is also sensitive about the possession and display of power as well.

This book is not meant to tell you how to behave as a boss or how to act as a subordinate. It merely recounts how bosses generally behave and what you can do as a subordinate to outlive them (or succeed them, if you wish). It also describes how subordinates generally act and what you must do as the boss to control them if you want to remain in charge (and I know you do). It also talks about the evil that has been committed by those entrusted with power. By knowing how such things happened, we can guard against a reoccurrence. I use the term bosses and subordinates to represent employers and workers, rulers and subjects, leaders and citizens, commanders and soldiers. The term boss is also used in a male perspective. Of course, we also have female bosses.

In this book, you will often come across an instance where it is stated what a boss or subordinate should or should not do. However, this is not only a recommendation on my part or an expression of my convictions but a deduction from an analytical observation of what transpires in human society. The essence is for us to know how things go wrong (and how we can avoid that) and how things go right (and how we can continue that). For life is nothing but a struggle to survive.

In our lives, we are often confronted with bitter and hidden struggles with ourselves and our environment. We have been taught that to excel amongst the many and be at the top requires the survival of the fittest. And since we are not in a jungle, brawn would not be the main determinant. And because human society, though organised on ethics and values, is ruled by unforeseen circumstances, brains might not also be the main determinant. In survival of the fittest you find one of the Laws of the Bosses.

PART ONE

POWER AND THE BOSS

1

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Life Is Not Fair

In most group struggles in life, it is accepted that the person who reaches the pinnacle of influence is termed the fittest. Such a struggle is termed the survival of the fittest. The winner of such a struggle is assumed to possess certain qualities; the process brings out only the strongest. However, situations have proven that not to be so, as the survival of the fittest cannot be conformed or limited to thought. And so the fittest is not always the strongest. People have a mindset criterion on certain issues of life, in which they assume that life occurrences will go in line with their established estimation (especially when it concerns ascending to a position of influence). And when it goes contrary to such expectations and someone else rises to a position of authority, they term the person an opportunist, a cheat, a usurper, or not worthy of the status.

Having better grades in college does not mean you will be the boss in any field. No one is fit to rule over others unless society accepts him. The qualifications that take a man to the top are what society comes to accept as the best route to success. Don’t be deceived if they are not included in their laws. It is in people’s consciousness that you find their true character.

Survival of the fittest is nothing more than the survival of those qualities favoured by society at the time. Adolf Hitler was not a man known to have had a great education, and his highest rank in a brief and colourless military career was that of corporal. But Hitler was able to rise to a position where he was boss over the finest generals and intellectuals of his generation. How? The failure of the intellectual establishment to save Germany from economic morass and the inability of the generals to save the nation from a humiliating military defeat destroyed the people’s perception of what was needed to be fit to be their boss. They quickly embraced Hitler’s illiterate rhetoric and crude diplomacy, which seemed to deliver better results than the failures of the past system. And despite Hitler’s obvious deficiencies, he became their boss. Therefore, a boss is produced when society judges that he possesses a quality that guarantees success, especially in difficult times. And that is why when a society is in desperate times it is open to all kinds of personalities being pushed to a position of authority: some good, some bad, and some we call evil.

In history, some bosses were vilified as the architects of much evil of their time, and truly they were. But such bosses never operate alone; no large-scale evil can be perpetrated in a society by one man without evil being in the minds of so many of its people. The many must have come to accept the evil acts as pardonable, as they had become necessary in their conscience. Yes, such bosses might be working with a minority, but when a minority lords it over the majority, then the minority is the effective majority. Martin Luther King said, A man is not worth living who is not ready to die for what he believes in. Thus, whatever happens is consciously or unconsciously accepted by the society that lives with it rather than bear the consequences of confronting it. Therefore, a person of any character can be the boss as long as the collective feelings of his society deem it fit.

Thus, if a society is running on a low moral standard, no matter the righteous dictums written as a guide in its laws, it will be subject to morally deficient leadership. If a society is inherently corrupt, its biggest thieves will be at the top. When a society embraces fraud, then the cheats and forgers will emerge as bosses. If a society is spiritually biased, religious clerics will be in a position of authority, and if a society leans on sentimentalism, then sectarian warlords will emerge in power. If a society is running on private enterprise, businessmen will call the shots. Where there is central control of resources, government apparatchik will be in control of the affairs of life. And if a society is intellectually biased, it will produce academics as leaders. If the nature of the people is that of a culture of respect for hereditary privileges, then a sort of monarchy would be sustained in all spheres of their life. If a society respects the wisdom of age, gerontocracy will be in fashion in all its affairs. If a society is in love with praise and worship, sycophants will rise to the top. If a society condones the abuse of power, it will produce leaders who are prone to abusing their privileges.

The character of a society determines who emerges on top in the struggle for power. As water obeys the course of the terrain, so does power flow along the mapped collective conscience of the society. Emerging as the fittest in the contest for power in today’s world depends on a good knowledge of your society and where it will be tomorrow.

When people talk of the best not reaching the top or becoming bosses in a contest for power, they should ask if the best are the fittest, as defined by what is happening in their society. Every society is unique in its own sense; it also undergoes many changes in its own peculiar ways. You therefore cannot judge what qualifies fitness in one part of the world and apply it to another. And in matters of exerting authority, as in other areas of human endeavour, the world is full of paradoxes. In Iran, religious clerics determined the course of the nation. The president, who is democratically elected, answers to an unelected spiritual leader, who derives his power from religious doctrines. This is not the case in the United States, as the religious establishment had become so estranged from politics that their comments on national issues are often frowned upon.

In Germany, a woman is the leader; in Afghanistan, no one knows how they look outside the homes. In Pakistan, military generals have a direct input in politics; next door in India, such an attempt would terminate their careers. The king of Swaziland has seventeen wives (he may have added another before I went to the printers); if Prince Charles had tried to add Camilla to his harem while Diana was alive, that would have been unacceptable. OPEC holds important meetings in Vienna as the world’s most influential cartel. The day such a meeting is held in the United States, they will face charges, as US law doesn’t allow cartels.

2

THE BOSS AND HIS SUBORDINATES

The Borrower Is a Slave to the Lender and the Weak to the Man of Strength

The boss inherits two groups of subordinates at the time of his rise to influence (that is, if such ascension is not the product of a bitter struggle). The first group will deeply like him, and the second strongly will not. No action on his part can draw the second group to be part of the first. But certain actions on his part could make some in the first group join the second. And strong, unguided actions of his could create a third group: a group that hates him.

Therefore, to stay out of difficulties, the boss must exempt himself from constantly doing excessively good or bad acts.

Engaging in excessively good behaviour will make it difficult for the first group, who are easily accustomed to his good actions, to live with the necessary tough measures that are required of an effective leader.

And excessive bad behaviour would motivate some from the second group to create the third group; which the boss, in desperation to destroy, will lead him to commit further bad acts that will eventually obliterate the first group. This will leave him with only the second and third groups to contend. That’s not good.

The boss may get carried away when he sees a growing transition of members of one group to another. This is usually the case when it is a movement to the first group. And he might feel that he has conquered much of those opposed to his hold on power. But it’s not always so. Opposition groups can depreciate in membership but still maintain their potency. A reduction in number does not always mean a reduction in strength. The loss in numerical value does not mean they no longer pose a danger. The strength of opposition groups does not always depend on their numerical values but rather on the substance of their opposition. In a game of power, strong purpose of intent can always be a good substitution for fewer membership.

In adopting the behaviour of being pleasing to the master, the subordinate may play many cards, including an open demonstration of love and loyalty for the boss. This might be good for a time. But as time goes on, the subordinate must not be deceived that the boss has been swayed by extreme displays of loyalty or love on his part. The boss is not so stupid to be carried away by such actions. He knows such is the feeling that people express for those who are over them. People love those in authority. They adore anything out of the ordinary. And the possession of power is a strong deviation from the ordinary.

The boss is aware that his subordinates’ show of affection is a natural reaction to his hold on power, and he is comforted by the knowledge that as long as power resides with him, their affection will flow to him. But the feelings of attractions to a man of authority cannot always be relied upon to be there, as such feelings could change if he declines in fortune. And surely such feelings for the boss will desert the subordinates when the boss falls from grace.

As such, it is good actions and not mere expressions of feelings of affections to the boss that count the most. Thus anything done in service to the boss must be tied to the desire to promote his hold on power; otherwise, it will soon lose value in his sight. To be the one amongst the group who is most able to guarantee good results in furthering his interest is the best assurance to remaining of value to the boss. And for that, whatever good feelings of love for the boss that a subordinate displays, it must be tied to the best results he can produce to his master in this regard, or with time he will lose his place of significance.

In the case of bosses who are paranoid, the closer a subordinate is to them, the further he will be when he does wrong. And this is more prominent when he is a favoured subordinate. Bad actions on the part of a favoured subordinate create a deep crisis of confidence. And such crises of confidence are viewed as a potent threat to the boss, because such a subordinate is one who would be operating from a brilliant position if he actually becomes a threat.

The boss is in constant fear of treachery and always imagines enemies lurking around him, with knives to stick in his back. The closer an attacker, the deeper he knows a knife would sink. And as such, he takes no delight in such possibilities. When a subordinate who is close to the boss is implicated in an act of treachery, no lengthy emotional actions in pleading his case or exhaustive explanation can save him. His survival would not be guaranteed in seeking repentance; he is safe only if he flees, never to return.

Hussein Kamel Hassan Al-Majid and his brother Saddam Kamel Al-Majid were two of Iraq’s highest-ranking officials; they oversaw Saddam Hussein’s neophyte nuclear weapons programme. Not only were they close to the dictator by virtue of their appointments, they were also linked to him by marriage. They were Saddam’s sons-in-law.

When Saddam’s forces were routed from Kuwait by the US-led coalition forces in 1991, the two brothers sensed their benefactor’s imminent fall and fled to Jordan, where they delightfully exposed secrets of Saddam’s nuclear program to opponents of his regime. Five years in Diaspora convinced the brothers of the dictator’s staying power and forced them to beg his forgiveness in returning home to their families. Saddam granted their requests; he also granted the requests of hardliners in his government to have them killed three days after their return.

The closer you are to a paranoid boss, the more your acts perceived to be from disloyalty are magnified. As a close subordinate, you can get away with a thousand offences before such a boss. In fact, it is your prerogative to get away with some offences. But the smallest act of disloyalty coming from you would never be forgiven, because disloyalty from a close subordinate would be viewed as pure treachery. And your position does not absolve you from suspicion, as treachery has the arms like an octopus: they can come from any direction and appear in any form. Children have conspired to dethrone their fathers; wives have eliminated their husbands and inherited their authority; acolytes have plotted against their masters; servants have sidelined their masters; even dogs have bitten their masters. To a boss, no group or person is above suspicion. No act of innocent error on the part of those close to him is beyond the deepest suspicion. In a group, acts of betrayal easily emanate from those who love to hate and those who fear to confront (and more often from those who envy). And you find such people from those closest to you. This is why bosses feel most vulnerable to such attacks, because they attract such feelings from their closest allies.

Sometimes, when a small disloyal act is committed by a subordinate who is close to the boss, it is seemingly overlooked. However, it is not that the boss does not desire revenge or is too weak to strike. Rather, he may just be patiently waiting for another similar action to be committed so as to justify the kind of punishment he has in mind, even for a close acolyte. He would not want to act on the first provocation and risk being seen as a beast that swallows its babies under the slightest provocation. This would make him not only feared but also hated. All bosses want to be loved, and at the same time, they love to be feared. But none wants to be hated. No man wants to be hated.

Normally, the boss promptly dishes out punishments to erring subordinates to serve as a deterrent to others. But when it comes to a disloyal act, especially by a close subordinate or a natural rival, he may wait to know the direction, because disloyal acts are often plots, and plots are treacherous acts that are hard to uncover in a man. The heart of a man has a closet for each of its secrets: the closet for treachery is the most closely guarded, and it is very sensitive to threats of being uncovered. Therefore, to uncover a plot is most difficult. So any action that relates to disloyalty from a subordinate would be carefully observed for a while. If it is the seed of a plot sprouting, the whole tree would fully manifest only if the activities around it are not disturbed. And when it happens, that is when to act decisively. This was what happened in one of Africa’s great countries…

Once upon a time, an enigmatic strongman and one of his ministers were close colleagues; their closeness preceded their military camaraderie, as they were classmates in college. This closeness saw them on the same side during several military putsches, and at the peak of their careers, they became an important part of the military junta that overthrew the civilian government. They were rewarded with the post of army chief and minister overseeing the construction of the nation’s new capital city. But soon they were to come together and remove the regime they helped to bring to power, an action that lifted the