Are you the Frank Underwood of your Organization?

Jeremy Boeh
Jul 24, 2017 · 3 min read

I must admit that I am late to the game. I recently just started watching House of Cards. I love it. I apologize to everyone who I gave a side eye to when they talked non-stop about it. However, I promise that this is not a fan-boy post. It is a post about lessons House of Cards can teach you and I about toxicity among teams and cultures.

I have had the opportunity to find myself in many different types of organizations from the military to education and all the random places in between. From these experiences I believe I have a pretty good understanding of organizations and their cultures.

I was recently in a meeting with an organization and saw something in a person that I have seen a 100k times before, in fact I most likely have been this person at one point. It happens in every culture, especially when you deal with disruptive organizations or innovative teams. This particular person was engaging in side bar conversations that actively attacked the progress trying to be made by the group. There is always a person who lays the seeds to a toxic culture. It has happened in our lives since we were involved in school group projects. They may not even know that they are doing it but it is happening. They are the ones who can only point out the negatives, they jump so far past the line of being a realist that they become the resident pessimist.

In the event you are like me and have never seen House of Cards until recently, allow me to give you my interpretation….In House of Cards Frank Underwood actively seeks to manipulate the majority by seeding toxicity amongst players in Washington, DC. He lives out a Machiavellian existence by ensuring that if he cant be happy, get his way or advance his agenda then no one can. While Frank is a character, Frank is every organizations reality. There is a Frank you work with, for or alongside at the very moment you are reading this. The challenge is to find that person and encourage them to rethink their approach. I am not suggesting to change who they are but encourage them to rethink their approach. I do not believe that there is such a thing as a toxic culture that is past the point of return. I do believe that if you are able to identify the Frank Underwoods in your group (even if it is yourself) and work to change their approach and understand their reasons for toxicity. You might be thinking that is a hard thing to do. It is not. It is called empathy and organizations, culture and the world can use a whole lot more of that.

This isn’t a post to silence disagreement or discontent but rather to encourage you to do so in a product way that involves empathetic communication. There is no such thing as a perfect culture. There is no such thing as a culture of complete happiness. Healthy disagreement and questioning in cultures, invites positive change. Listen more than you speak. Toxic cultures start with toxic people. Make a commitment as a leader, member of an organization or bystander to notice when the Frank Underwoods or your culture start to “whip up the majority.”

Jeremy Boeh

Written by

President, NEXT School Foundation• Startup Starter • Brand Builder • Pirate • Army Officer Combat Vet

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