What a stupid girl, Linda thought of Michelle, while smiling gracefully to her. The two were at the lunch table. Michelle was a female employee of Linda’s company at the Strategy Department, and they were talking about a new career program for women that has been kicking-off. “In order to advance my career, I need to have a strong male manager as my mentor. This company is full of men in senior positions, and you need strong backup to move up, you know;” said Michelle innocently, her eyes sparkling with ambition. “Linda, you’re such a kind person. Could you please help me here?”
Linda was well aware that the company’s Women’s Club provides mentorship to its members by a senior person in the same company as part of its efforts to promote women. The Women’s Club was headed by Linda’s direct superior, Rachel, the Human Resources Officer in the US. Although Linda put her name on the list of the Women’s Club committee to the success of the women, she secretly scorned the group and the stupid female members. They were all silly ambitious women who needed grounding, in Linda’s view. Of course, she didn’t show the slightest hint of her true feelings, and was held as the advisor to the European branch of the women association.
Linda would say to those members, sounding she was supporting them from the bottom of the heart, “would you please consult with me about the activities of the Women’s Club in Europe and what was discussed at the conference? If the activities require approval from the American headquarters, I can act as a bridge between you and Rachel.”
In fact, Linda was not interested in them at all and she did not attend the monthly meetings of the subcommittee, citing her busy schedule. She just had a few members report to her about the discussions at those meetings and made sure that any items to be approved would go through Linda. This was also a very clever way of avoiding speaking directly at those meetings and having her true intentions known, while at the same time squashing any “dangerous” initiatives or proposals secretly. Linda’s real intention was to undermine the Women’s Club’s activities in the back, making it sound as if those nice proposals had been rejected by the U.S., namely Rachel.
Linda’s ostensible motto was “helping people. When asked what her career objective was, she would proudly reply, “I’ll be helping people. It’s really my passion and gift”. On the surface, Linda had to act like she was helping women’s causes. She pretended to be a nice person for all intents and purposes, offering advice and solutions to others. Reputation of being a nice person would bring more people for her advice, sharing willingly their problems with Linda. Thanks to this virtuous circle, Linda heard all kinds of information within the company. Michelle, a member of the Women’s Club, was fooled by Linda’s facade and approached Linda for a “business lunch” to get her support on choosing a good powerful mentor. In fact, the female employees of the ambitious Women’s Club are the most dangerous types and must be crushed at all costs to ensure Linda’s security.
To Linda’s wizened eyes, it was clear why women like Michelle brought up gender theory. Selfish ambition for career advancement. She was the one who should be promoted and given a raise. She would loudly demand better treatment. Even if their background and experience were not objectively significant, these women would often raise arguments of gender equality to insist more. Or, that should be the reason; they didn’t have any other good argument than being women to justify they deserved promotion. At the same time, a common characteristic of these types of women was their competitiveness toward other women. Michelle would like to talk about promoting women, but she wouldn’t stand it when other women are treated better. It was a common “me too” syndrome. With a graceful nod, Linda fully understood Michelle’s motivation. Then she thought about how to use this on her own game board. Silly girls couldn’t get enough of dreaming a Cinderella story. Being chosen by an influential man and having his full support, she should start a great career. That’s why she needed someone in the highest position in the company as a mentor so that she, not the other women, could make this dream come true.
Linda smiled vaguely and thought with all her brain power to find someone suitable for the job. Oh, yes, George! He would be perfect for this role. A man full of empty words with nothing practical to say. He had some experience in supporting functions but lacked the practical experience of running a business. Linda could see perfectly well that this man would be of no help to Michelle’s career. Perfect, he was the right man for the job – as a completely useless mentor. George would be a great fit to such a dumb woman with no clue where they were standing. Actually it was critical for Linda to keep those “me-too” Wanna-bees from tripping up and blocking Linda’s career path. George would be the great wall to bounce back those barbarian invasions and to keep Linda’s way clear.
In fact, George had just recently become the head of the newly created European Advanced Technology Division. Everyone was surprised at this remarkable promotion, but it was Linda who had arranged it. When the position was created and Linda was asked to hire this position as the European HR manager, she thought of how she could make it work for her. It was clear that no competent manager should be chosen by any mistake. If that manager became powerful and established a sphere of influence, there was a strong risk that Linda’s manipulation space would be reduced. The obvious conclusion was that an incompetent man should be chosen to fill in this important role. Linda herself could be in one of those positions in the future. A type like George would be the best choice to keep Linda’s room for manoeuvre in the future, not mentioning bouncing back her rivals as a useless mentor. George was sort of famous within the company – for his ability to talk, his worldly wisdom, his laxity in his work, his disregard for the rules, etc. Fortunately, Joe, who had just arrived from the outside, did not yet know George’s true nature. With an auspicious look on her face, Linda presented George to Joe as a strong candidate. Several other names of actually competent people also came up as candidates. Nevertheless, Linda succeeded in eliminating them by whispering to Joe about some inconvenient stories of those candidates which only HR knew. “George is the only one,” Linda assured Joe, “who can embrace the challenge with open arms and lead us to success.
Linda’s game would become more exciting by making good use of a piece like George in different parts of the company. George as Michelle’s mentor would be a choice far from Michelle’s original request, but Linda could perfectly justify it. She should dismiss Michelle’s request to have Joe as her mentor in the first place. Joe was the General Manager of European Business and was ranked the highest in the office. Linda could convince Joe out of being Michelle’s mentor by describing her as a greedy woman who would disrupt the order of the hierarchy. In addition, it would be effective to alert Carl, the head of Michelle’s department, who was so afraid of Joe. If Joe became Michelle’s mentor, Joe would know what was going on in his department, including bad things. This would be a nightmare for Carl, who was always nervously thinking only about the security of his own position. Linda, pretending to be worried about Carl as a friend, should quietly inform him about this Wanna-bee story to warn him and terrorize him, so that Michelle wouldn’t be able to move any more, being stuck with George.
Linda should just pretend that things just went out of her control even though Linda was making a perfectly good effort to make Michelle’s wish come true. Linda was trying to assign Joe for her, but accidentally the story was overheard by Carl. Bad luck. It was Carl, who panicked, made a big fuss and begged Joe never to become Michelle’s mentor. Linda was only trying to recover the situation with good faith. That kind of acting was breakfast for Linda. Ugh, this is going to get a little interesting. Linda smiled so gracefully at Michelle, feeling the excitement of hunting coming up.
This story is fictitious and is not based on any real persons or organizations. Copyright: Kunoichi4You 2024
Psychopath in the Next Office 