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More from "The Bully Protocol"

Convince them that they lost something- or better yet- that it was taken from them. It doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter if they never had it. It doesn't even matter if they've still got it!

The fear of loss, that paralyzing sense of missing out, is so profound it can break anyone's heart. Some people only know heartbreak, without ever knowing love. As salesmen- and political strategists are nothing but salesmen- we can use that. 'See that son-of-a-bitch over there? He took that from you.'

This strategy is the basis of the immigration argument. "They're taking all the jobs!"

Yes. The jobs that no one else wants to do.

The Golf Wars: Tabla

3.10 Tabla and her cohort move silently through the village streets. The night was dark. The sky hung heavy with clouds.

3.11 No stray dogs stirred from hungry dreams to whine or yip. No drunken old men stirred from their soiled slumber to rant or rail.

3.12 No witness, no sound. A sight never before seen; tigers, organized and ruthless, gathered in a hunting pack, gliding from shack to shanty, from neck to neck.

3.13 The attack was coordinated and cunning, borrowed from humankind’s most ambitious ambushes. Savage and elegant. A beautiful brutality.

3.14 Thin necks broke. Arteries gushed. The dusty, dirty floors were thick with blood. Tabla and her warriors showed no mercy, no joy.

3.15 To kill is a Guide. To care is a Guide as well, but only within the Family. To the Tigers, mankind was no longer Family.

3.16 No souls saw the sun rise.

The Pumpkin Dancer

My sister Dekker is a professional dancer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She’s writing a memoir about her journey from the strip clubs in Portland Oregon to a prestigious contemporary dance company. She let me read this excerpt about meeting her husband for the first time at a friend's wedding.”He dominated the dance floor. It was like watching a pumpkin rolling down a hill: bouncing and weaving from side to side, seemingly out of control, always in danger of flying apart. A wonderful anarchy of thick limbs and arhythmic convulsions. It was the opposite of everything I had l trained so violently to control. It was terrifying and intoxicating. I wondered what such a reckless dancer would be like in bed and decided then and there to find out. Three drunken hours later I got my answer. Sweet Jesus.” Dekker is six feet tall and willow thin. Her husband is about five and half feet tall and almost as wide. The more he likes you, the more dangerous he is. His hugs can incapacitate. To be fair, his hugs did fix our Uncle Nesbit's lumbar displacement. He cries buckets during sad movies. I saw him beat up three guys by himself at a music festival. I still don't know why.

Wild Versus Tame

Research indicates that people are quite willing to follow the lead of a sociopath. While disappointing, this is not surprising. History overflows with examples of ‘sensible’ people doing senseless things under the spell of madmen. Pirates and pillagers, dictators and cult leaders, serial killers and celebrities have great sway over our attitudes and actions.
We were once wild but now we are not. We let that spirit go a long time ago, as we formed families and tribes and nations and society. It’s in the name; a sociopath has no respect for society and it’s standards and norms. And everyone has at least a small corner of their heart that longs to do and say some reckless shit. We admire that recklessness in others- and are quick to condemn it as well. The tame always have that alibi, the intoxication that comes from standing close to something wild and free. We feel it at the ocean on a stormy day. There’s a difference between being possessed by an evil spirit and being the devil himself. 
At least, we hope so.

My Dog Franks

Franks don't give a rats ass about social distancing

My Dog Franks

Franks and a plasticine porker.

Why Your Business/Sports Team/Country Is/Are Failing

My sister Cleo lives in Boston and works as a HR and management consultant. She lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a year and makes a scalding green curry that can cure most diseases. She still writes letters on real paper and sends them in real envelopes.

Cleo has a theory, borne out by years of experience, that every business problem is a culture problem. And every culture problem is a leadership problem.

My consulting business is small, but when we run into problems, it's always cultural: people feeling undervalued, poor communication, disorganization, frustration. And at the root of all of those problems- if I'm being honest- is me. As the leader it's my responsibility to set the tone and solve the problems that come up. Sure, delegation is an important part of leadership, but a good leader knows what to delegate and to who, increasing the likelihood of success. Duke Ellington was a great leader; he knew how to work to the talents of his band members, which was ever-changing.

Cleo says managers get angry, hurt, and defensive when faced with this idea; they are generally hiring her to make their staff more efficient, effective, etc. They don't want to be the problem, even though that affords them the greatest gift, of also being the solution.

The Bully Protocol

I'm working on a  new book called "The Bully Protocol: Political Strategies for the Amoral and Ambitious."

The chapter I'm outlining right now is called "The Bully Flip" which discusses the complicated but effective strategy of bullying people by claiming to be a victim of bullying. In the business we call it the "NRA Gambit."

This cry-baby-bully strategy takes us to strange places. I had a five hour meeting last week with an undisclosed lobby that wants to paint an aging hippie, town council candidate as a fertilizer-shamer because she once wrote an effusive blog post about composting. Her prize winning peonies are a danger to us all.

It is telling how frightened big fish are of little fish.