Common enemies — The Daily PPILL #140

We heard it: “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This is certainly true in politics, where the most unexpected crowds can be made to come together to fight a (many times made up!) common enemy. But can this be seen in other areas of life? In business, for example, are you being manipulated to agree on something in the face of a common enemy?

Sales and Marketing are one of the favorite to be setup as adversaries, when in reality they have to work together to be truly functional. You know, Marketing is only having “fun” and spending precious money, while Sales is doing the “grunt” work.

Then some come up with a common enemy for both departments: beancounters. The finance people who just want to know how much each action costs and apparently don’t understand the “long term game” or the “bigger picture.”

How about (this is a classic!) the direct sales teams vs. partners?

So, is it possible that we are being played? That someone, somewhere is trying to create a common enemy in order to respond to a private agenda? Seeing enemies where in reality there are allies is a symptom of a counterproductive and toxic culture.

As published on The Channelmeister