After skimming through all the applications for the Strategic Governance Director position, Linda stopped to look at Danny’s resume. To Linda’s eyes, an experienced HR professional, one thing was clear. This candidate had obvious issues of his character, ability, or both. Once he was the marketing director for a large manufacturing company, but after losing that position, he had been changing companies every three months to six months, one after another. And each time there was a blank in between before moving on to a new position. Apparently, he did not survive the initial probation periods and was kicked out. At this point he was unemployed. Just by looking at his resume, a picture of Danny’s character began to swell in Linda’s mind. He must be a smooth talker, who could get job offers, but must be an overconfident narcissist, lacking substance. He was disliked by those around him, but for some reason, people above him tended to be fooled by his superficial eloquence. After murmuring, “Perfect,” Lina called Max and told him that she had found the perfect candidate for the position Max was hiring for.
Linda said in up-beat, “I got an application from a very good candidate! His name is Danny. He is an experienced marketing director for a well-known company. He has outstanding experience and skills in strategy presentations, and knows how to implement strategies. No one can beat him. Let’s set up face-to-face interviews with some candidates, including Danny.”
Max agreed to it, never dreaming this would be actually a trap. Max was also German, with natural trust in Linda as a German colleague. How could he ever realize that Linda was using Max as a part of her grand chess game to satisfy her cruel needs?
Danny was a short man, with messy hair and pink face. Even though he was behaving politely, there was something disorderly about this man. Actually if Danny hadn’t been so eloquent in strong voice, he would have looked like a comical figure. He was living in the French-speaking part of Switzerland but now he was searching everywhere for his new job.
During the interview with Linda and Max, Danny spoke loudly and confidently. He was a native English speaker and spoke no German. He said he was fluent in French, instead. After the interview, Linda looked impressed and said to Max, “The interview went very well. This candidate is the best one by far. You need an outspoken confident personality to persuade stakeholders across different departments and countries in the company. Danny fits the role perfectly and will be a strong supporter and “enabler” for your strategy. His French-speaking ability is an asset, complementary to your German background,” Linda added convincingly.
Max, on the other hand, was not entirely convinced. Although he was certainly overwhelmed by Danny’s vigorous manner, this candidate was quite a bit off from Max’s strategic rigorous thinking-style with attention to details. In addition, this candidate lacked German language skill and experience in Germany. German language skill would be essential for making a strong inroad with the dominant German stakeholders in this company. “He was not bad but there might be other candidates who would fit better, for example, a person with a strategy consultant background.“
Linda said in a cheerful voice,
“Max, I understand your concern well. Danny has no experience in this industry and doesn’t have a job right now. This is a bit of a concern surely, the lack of industry experience. Let’s set up an interview with Joe, the General Manager, Europe in the next round to get his honest opinion about this candidate. Joe has a lot of experience in Germany, and I’m sure he’ll give you an objective and comprehensive assessment. I’ll inform Joe about your concerns before the interview, so that he would give us transparent feedback about this candidate”
After returning to her office and closing the door, Linda called Joe as she had promised Max. ‘Max has found the perfect candidate to fill the vacancy in his unit,’ I said. ‘Max and I are both deeply impressed with this candidate and would love to have your approval as the final step. This is a strategic position to work within the organization directly with Max, involving other big business units within the company. It is important to receive your formal approval as the General Manager Europe to back up Max’ decision. It’s important that you and Max are aligned in personnel decisions. Once we had your approval, we would communicate it to all the stakeholders.”
Joe understood the message by Linda. This interview was simply to confirm Max’ decision, the CEO’s stepson. Joe should never give his honest opinion about the candidate even if the person was really a bad choice. Joe thanked Linda secretly for giving him good tips on how to act in such a delicate matter. To Joe, Linda always looked trustworthy and supportive, unless this went into the details of HR matters. For Joe, it was important not to go against the wishes of the CEO and key people associated with him, and to survive in the organization. Max, who joined the company with much fanfare at the CEO’s own decision, was assigned three roles, and worked directly for Joe for organizing management meetings. In reality, the CEO’s son-in-law working for Joe was nothing more than a nuisance, but he didn’t dare say anything.
Thus, the final-round job interview was set up between Joe and Danny, for formality only. After this interview, Linda sent an email to Max copying Joe and Linda’s boss, Rachel, the global head of HR.
“Joe met with Danny today and he was deeply impressed by the excellence of this candidate. Danny will bring his extensive work experience of leading well-known brands at a major machinery manufacturer. Joe is convinced Danny will be able to work well with all the departments in Europe, involving the key stakeholders and realize his key strategies. We are all delighted to be able to have such a strong professional for the newly created key role after the strategic reorganization. We look forward to having Danny on board as Director of Strategic Governance, reporting to Max, as soon as possible.”
After reading the email, Joe was feeling strange. As a matter of fact, Joe had complete doubts about Danny’s aptitude. Indeed, Danny had spoken a lot confidently during the interview. In fact, he was too eloquent. Joe, as an experienced manager, saw how empty Danny’s speech was. There were considerable errors in Danny’s quotes about the company and the industry. Danny covered up those errors with fancy phrases, but that didn’t fool Joe’s eyes. This candidate was only too eager to speak for himself and unable to listen to others. It was Joe’s honest opinion that he would not be able to coordinate different interests and work with the stakeholders at this company. Interpersonal skills such as negotiating and generating trust were required for this position. Normally, Joe would have immediately asked probing questions to make the candidate spill the beans. If Joe would have been honest with himself, he would have rejected Danny. But what could Joe say in this situation? Joe was hired at this company as a manager and he shouldn’t go against Ben, the CEO. Joe heard a lot about what had happened to his predecessor who went against Ben. If Max, Ben’s family member, wanted to hire this man, according to what Linda informed him, there was no reason for Joe to object. It was wiser to minimize any risk at a company where personal relations were so intricately woven. It never came to Joe, even at the slightest idea, that Linda had a good incentive to manipulate Joe and Max to hire this man as her convenient knife for making her way.
Max, on the other hand, was also surprised to receive Linda’s e-mail. Even though Linda kindly set up an interview between Joe and Danny, Max had expected that Danny would be declined at this final round. Knowing Joe, Max was convinced that he would see through Danny’s shallow eloquence and flawed arguments. Surprisingly, however, Joe seemed to really like the candidate, and pushed Max to hire him, despite the fact that Danny had no direct experience in the industry and was currently unemployed. Actually, Joe himself was hired from outside the industry to this company at a management position. It was possible that the two of them were somehow on the same frequency. Apparently Joe had seen something really shining in Danny, which Max failed to. That was simply gratifying. If that was the case, it would be the best to hire Danny. Having someone who could please Joe would be the best decision for Max, even if the person was not the right one in terms of some abilities. Joe could back up Danny and Max on their grounding work of brand governance however challenging this could be.
Max, being German and accustomed to an open and direct communication, took what was written in Linda’s e-mail at its face value. Reading between lines was simply impossible for a German person who grew up in direct German culture. It was especially the case for a person like Max who was new to a higher management setup where people behaved differently. Actually Max was shunned by his colleagues at his previous Swiss company for his directness and pushiness, and had to have a fresh start at the company of his stepfather. The cost of jumping up the hierarchy by leveraging dodgy push was clearly a lack of growth and immaturity. He had never realized that Joe’s approval of hiring Danny was simply due to reservations to Max. He was not experienced in dealing with others’ politics behind the scenes, either. Linda was pulling all the threads fully behind their backs, but there was no way for Max to realize that the hiring of Danny was a well developed plot for Linda’s hidden selfish purposes.
Thus, an employment contract was offered to Danny. The advantage for Danny was that he could start working immediately, being currently in unemployment. There was no need to wait for a few months’ notice period.
After Danny’s hiring was effectively approved, Linda promptly forwarded the email between Linda, Joe and Max to Carl, the Head of the Strategy Department where Danny will be in, with her comment. “We are delighted to have a strong professional to be added to your team.”
Linda knew exactly how Carl would respond. Even if the hiring decision had been made between Max and Joe without Carl’s involvement, he would act as if this was the best news ever. Carl would never go against higher management’s decisions.
This was already calculated by Linda. With Danny’s hiring so spectacular and was supported by Joe, Carl would never be able to argue with Danny’s qualifications. To protect himself, Carl should have to live with all the trouble Danny would cause within Carl’s department in the near future. No matter how nasty it would be, Carl should have no choice to fire Danny. In Carl’s mind, keeping Danny alive was the only way for Carl to survive.
Linda was so excited about the future as she worked on Danny’s employment contract. She muttered to herself, “Watch now, the damn Greg, Sanae, and the ambitious Michelle. I’m going to throw in a fun toy, a sharp knife specially bought for you. I’m going to make you guys squirm.” It had been two months since Sanae signed the employment contract.
This story is fictitious and is not based on any real persons or organizations. Copyright: Kunoichi4You 2024
Psychopath in the Next Office 