Why I will never work for a (Macoute) again.

To understand what a macoute is, you first must get a brief history of the man that created the organization. In 1954 anti-government protests forced a national election in Haiti. Many farmers backed the black skins traveling physician Francois Duvalier. His former patients would go on to give him a nickname that he is better known by than his legal name ‘Papa Doc’. Papa Doc was an intellectual man who sought to have the country majority—black-skinned Haitians—in control of the country. He was a deep follower of the noirisme movement (which sought to overthrow the light-skinned power class installed by the US during the 1915 occupation). He would go on to get a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan.? Due to unforeseen circumstances he got the endorsement of the country's military. The US set out to intervene, in the hope that a strong man would prevent communist influence from entering the country. The moment he got into office, he went on a mission to consolidate power whether through torture or coercion.

He appointed local “section chiefs” to keep eyes out for him and created his own secret police Tonton Macoute, which neutralized the army generals from ever thinking of a Coup. The Tonton Macoute, would go on to kill many opponents of Duvalier’s. The Duvalier’s were? the Idi Amin of the Caribbean. Journalists were silenced if not killed and he even expelled the Catholic archbishop in the country who was critical of him. It’s estimated that over 30,000 Haitians fled the country, many of whom were in the professional class such as doctors, lawyers, and agronomists. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives in Duvalier’s push to silence his enemies.

Shortly before his death in 1971, he forced the Haitian parliament to change the constitution so his then nineteen-year-old son could meet the requirement to become president. Jean Claud Duvalier or Baby Doc followed in his father’s footsteps, terrorizing the poor population and expelling any intellectual who disagreed with his worldview, while living a lavish lifestyle. In 1986 the Haitian people had enough of the Duvalier’s, and they forced Baby Doc to flee for his life. He and his family boarded a plane and went to France. Ironically, he returned to the country for the first in over twenty years in January 2011 to pay his respects to the 2010 earthquake victims. Shortly after he was placed under house arrest. Sadly, he died before the Haitian people could hold him accountable in 2014.

The meaning of the word macoute in the decades since has morphed and? slowly changed to a ruthless leader or person. It is their way or no way. I remember a lot of people would refer to one of my uncles as a macoute, not because he was one of the duvalier little minions; but because you couldn’t? question his reasoning . His approach to life was and is still “I'm right, you are wrong,.

Similarly,? in the workplace many macoute attitudes exist. Questioning higher up is forbidden,? "we are all family " is a slogan that is used for recruiting purposes only. Ever since Covid-19, I have made up my mind to never work for a ‘macoute’ again. I seek to work for ordinary people. As Ross Perot used to say “ I don't have 20,000 people that work for me at EDS , instead I work with 20,000.” The ordinary leader doesn't seek external validation. Ordinary leaders speak with candor, they don’t leave room for ambiguity. You know where you stand with them. They don’t play tricks on you. Your psychological safety is paramount to them.?

#Ordinary People