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The following is an excerpt from the fateful meeting between the protagonist Nathaniel Lee Abel, the champion of X, and Polymal, in Lo and Behold, X! :
“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 ‘𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸?’ 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸?” 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘺𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦. “𝘍𝘪𝘦, 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘣𝘦𝘭, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘙𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥’𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨! 𝘓𝘰! ‘𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸’ 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱! 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦. 𝘋𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘟 𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘟 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳?” – Lord Polymal, a lord of the fictional kingdom of Obratheria
Ever found yourself in a business meeting with someone whose mindset was misanthropic, miserly, authoritarian, imposing, someone who feels right at home in an organization that Niels Pflaeging calls “alpha”?
In the business novel “Lo and Behold, X!”, Lord Akash Polymal is the embodiment of all that, and more!
Polymal is the quintessential, archetypical “business bad guy”. He rose through the ranks of the kingdom of Obratheria because he brought in revenue with wares early on in his career. Yet, he has kept burning out the people of his feudal realm through his pitiful style of command and control, he has kept exploiting customers and not exploring their needs, and has been relying on his tenure and long (and increasingly outdated) experience to justify making all decisions and keeping his seat of power, while all his realm’s wares stagnate.
The priesthood of the kingdom left him there, because they did not know how to handle his realm’s transition to someone more balanced, fearing that any transition would upset the realm’s revenues. And the single metric of revenue is a sacred metric of the kingdom of Obratheria!
How many “lords” like Polymal do you know?
How many of them in your organization?
What happens to the culture of an organization that tolerates a Lord Polymal for far too long?
What happens to the culture of an organization that promotes Lord Polymal’s mindset as a leadership model?
Probably not the best of things.
