Lessons from The Traitors

Thoughts from Stuart Alexander on the BBC series The Traitors: what it tells us about human nature, trust, and leadership, and its parallels with business relationships and GemCap’s philosophy of only working with people we like and share values with.

So who in the UK is not currently gripped by the new series of The Traitors on the BBC? I know that I am for sure. I understand that there is a similar series in the USA which is also based in the same Scottish hotel so no doubt the same sort of intrigue and fascination applies but with probably more drama! For those who are not familiar with the show, it is a short series where a group of people stay at a luxury hotel and over time, about 10 days, they are slowly killed off or banished from the castle. The killings take place courtesy of the Traitors whilst the Faithfuls and the unknown Traitors vote for the person to be banished. It is a fascinating series that really shows how the human nature can change under pressure and how some people are naturally gifted at being deceitful. It also shows how difficult it is to identify the Traitors and how we all struggle to really know someone.

In the last series the ultimate winner, Harry Clark, a Traitor, played an absolute blinder when he convinced the ultimate runner-up, Mollie Pearce, a Faithful, that he was also a Faithful. The look on her face, when it was exposed that he was a Traitor and she had blown her chance to win the ￡100,000 prize money, was one to behold. Crestfallen doesn’t explain it enough. Deceit is painful at any time and even more so when people bring you into their trust and then do the dirty on you. We may all have an example of that in our lives?

Generally, in business there are a fair number of Traitors and Faithfuls and at times it can be very hard to spot them. At GemCap we have a very simple premise when it comes to working with people as either clients, suppliers or choosing new members of the team. Do we like them, do they share our values and are they respectful to those with whom they interface? We sometimes spot something that doesn’t wash with us and something that will cause us to consider or reconsider whether we want to work with the person/firm. A sense of gut feeling is there at all times and something that my mother taught me. “If it doesn’t feel right, then don’t do it,” was a quote she would often reel out to me when I was considering my options be it work or social. We all have that “sixth” sense and often we can’t put our finger on it but we just know. Sometimes it is alarmingly clear and we run for the hills but other times we just get a sense and make the decision. In short it isn’t easy, and we can and do make mistakes that we only discover down the line. We don’t beat ourselves up over it but we try to learn from it and not make the same mistake again. Sometimes it’s just a misread and other times we just ignored the warning signs but overall we tend to get it right, thankfully.

When it comes to pulling together on tasks, as demonstrated in the programme, you can see evidence when people, rather than pulling in one direction, start to pull in the opposite direction. This then becomes a challenge for even the best managers and leaders to get everyone on side. There is a general rule that on any big task there will be a third who get it, a third who just need to understand it better and a third that will never get it. You just need to work out who is who and then work with them accordingly. Some people will take some convincing on the sincerity of the objective and whether it aligns with their own interest. In the programme, some participants deliberately feed in misinformation to try and derail or lose the game thereby confining a Faithful to certain death! In business it isn’t quite so brutal (well, most of the time!), thankfully, but the thinking can be similar. Some people can be absolutely convinced they know the truth and are blinded by it. Others can be vocal about the situation, but no one is listening even if it is clearly there for all to see. As a leader you must take all of this onboard and decipher the facts from the fiction.

The Traitors programme is an excellent study of human nature, both the good and the bad, as it demonstrates how we can all go along with a herd mentality even though we might have doubts. The “greater good” and “if they all think it then it must be true” often drives people’s thinking but for business leaders it is an imperative to have independent thought particularly when one is acting as a company director or senior leader. In the world today we see lots of possible Traitors who are acting as our leaders who through the populist vote are driving their own agendas. Bringing people along with them so as to achieve the ultimate win in whatever way that is recognised. So, who do you think is the next big Traitor? Only time will tell and will we ever know… unless the Faithfuls find out!