Dark Roots Rising

If you watch enough Korean period drama, it usually revolves around the emperor and his palace officials. The central theme usually hovers around people craving more power, wealth, and unwillingness to relinquish their position.??

Beyond just the pure entertainment value, these movies provided fictional examples of people losing their sense of righteousness and focusing only on self-preservation. People will resort to all kinds of ways to protect their turf. Some do not even bat an eye in resorting to taking lives.

You get to watch all kinds of dirty tactics, e.g., backstabbing, fabricating evidences, framing foes, nepotism, arranging marriage to gain more power, bribery, blackmailing, bullying, extortion, draconian defamation, espionage, spying, ransom, kidnapping, betrayal, breach of promise, swindling, crafty conniving, kowtowing, smoke screens, deceptions, falsehoods, embezzlement, harassment, flattery, cheating, etc. All the juicy stuff that keeps you glued to the TV!?

A common theme of these movies is the palace officials. You usually get to see the palace officials changing their positions quickly, each more concerned about themselves rather than the greater good. One minute the wind is blowing east, and the next minute, the wind changes in the opposite direction.??

When it comes to a threat to their self-interest, they conveniently come together as a group. They know they have to do this because it may be their turn the next time. Once the threat is neutralized, they are back to distrusting one another. Only artificial harmony exists.?

The key to survival is to make sure you belong to the most influential group. Better still, you can boast that you have a huge mountain behind you. When you watched enough of these Korean period movies; all is not what it seems to be.??

On the surface, everything looks so harmonious. When you dig deeper, you will realize that everyone is busy cleaning dirty laundry daily to ensure that everything looks squeaky clean on the surface.?

Everyone talks to each other superficially. The primary concern is how do I continue to make myself look good. Work is created to solidify their respective position. The influential people become more powerful; the rich become more prosperous. The poor become more destitute.?

Much of the country's wealth will be siphoned off to feed all the palace officials and the extensive network of dark roots.???

We need to watch people who may have lost their way and/or focus in our organization. Once upon a time, they may have their compass pointing due north. Over time, some may cross over to the dark side. When that happens, the dark roots will start to grow. If we close an eye on these leaders, these dark roots will grow deep into the soil and span across the organization.??

The problem is most of these leaders are still delivering excellent results. As a result, we often turn a blind eye to what's beneath the surface until it is too late. We quietly hope for a miracle that they will change for the better. In the graveyard of corporations that are no longer in existence today, these are companies who had prayed for a miracle as well.?

The entire organization will become so toxic that everyone will lose sight of the bigger purpose. Not much conversation on getting ahead and moving closer to the vision. Instead, time spent on mudslinging or building defense walls against each other. We become our greatest enemies.?

Anyone who joins such an organization will quickly learn to adapt to the "unwritten rules of the game" or ultimately leave the organization. Most will resort to "if you can't beat the system, adapt to it".?This toxic culture will then take roots and spread to the rest of the organization.

Generally, most workers do not mind putting in the hours if they know they are doing good work. However, workers in the toxic organization are often frustrated knowing that there are no longer doing purposeful work. They know that some of their time spent is for the entertainment of the management above.?

How do you know whether you have any dark roots? Some of the signs are the inability to retain critical talents, people living in fear and not willing to speak up, employees no longer listening to their customers (lack of compassion), high degree of employees spending time on internal email wars, no creative ideas from the organization, the amount of time spent on getting the perfect communication for fear of reprisals, following the rule book without any compassion, workforce not wanting to give any suggestions, telling half-truths, etc.?

These are symptoms of an organization that is bent on self-preservation. Some of these leaders do not realize that they have gone to the dark side. The problem is when you cross the line and stay on the other side too long; you begin to justify your actions are entirely ethical.??

When that happens, the emperor is without clothes, no longer in touch with what is happening beyond the palace walls. His closest aides feed him promising quarterly financial information and professionally manicured justification for non-performance.?

This vicious cycle will continue to a point where the organization's fault lines become as wide as the Grand Canyon. When that happens, the inevitable end of a dynasty.