Meetings, they can be awkward, good, nerve racking. Other times they can be useful or even damaging. Meetings can happen at work or in your private life. They can be a simple one-on-one conversation, a group up of many individuals, or a conference between multiple groups.
Meetings can be unbelievably helpful, they can create a microcosm of your work environment and your social environment. You can see who hangs out with who and you can see the various little factions people make.
Meetings can be invaluable tools and not in the way most people think they can be. Yes you can interact with the rest of the people you work with and convey information to them without playing a huge game of telephone where the information can be twisted. This is if you’ve called the meeting but doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t use the meeting effectively if you are just a participant. Let’s look at a few scenarios.
Before we get into a real life scenario, we’re gong to get a basic understanding of one of the possible and rather shady sides of meetings. The best way to describe this shadowy side is through the example of The Godfather. Now I haven’t watch the movies all the way though, but I have seen a large part of the initial Godfather movie and it is a fantastic example of cut throat interactions between autonomous groups. With in the system they try to portray in the movie you have the equivalent of different departments or branches of the same business or organization. Each one does what’s in its best interest while trying to be in harmony with their related faction. There’s an overarching command structure over all the different groups, but it is not a guarantee of harmony. Each successive command has their team, like a project manager and their department. Then different department heads can try to ally themselves with other “companies” for lack of better term, so it’s more like a group of outsourcing companies in various locations. These different groups can try to become the dominate one and take over the overarching command structure. So the one at the head of that structure needs to be wise and knowledgeable in order to retain command of the organization(s).
If you watch the Godfather, especially at the end you will get a pretty interesting look at cutthroat politics, for lack of a better term. Especially with the advice the Godfather gives to his son. Now with the Mafioso mentality we’re going to look at a real life example from two sides, what’s possible and what’s probable. The possible is the extreme end of the spectrum and deals more with personal security, while the probable deals with what is more than likely going to happen.
I apologize for how vague I’m going to be but keeping people’s information safe is important. Some associates of mine used to be affiliated with a group of individuals who had similar ideologies in regards to living one’s life. Now the group has a leader and for the position he’s in he’s not all that well equipped. From a shmoozing and manipulation stand point the man seems pretty good. Every time I encounter him my alarm bells go off, to the extent that I shun his presence and those of his association. The group, I’ve been informed, or at least some fraction of the group has determined they are going to split off, or so the story goes. My associates have begun distancing themselves from the group over the past year or so because of drama and recently they have been contacted to attend a meeting that the would be splinter group is going to be having.
And here is where things get interesting, this is the second of such meetings and the first one my associates have been invited to. The situation stinks. My advice in the situation was to not go to the meeting. There are multiple reasons why. First this meeting indicates that a command structure has already been implemented, and they are looking to recruit aid in their cause of splintering. This means those who get recruited after the command structure are more than likely just pawns in a game of chess, they are tools or after thoughts in the scheme and are not as highly valued as they may be lead to believe. My associates are technically neutral in this scenario siding with the splinter group would remove that neutrality and sink them into a faction war if things go bad (which they will).
There is another probable outcome for this. That is that the leader knows all about this little meet up and any dissension in the ranks and has assigned this individual to weed out the problems. Pretty much get everyone who disagrees with management in one room see who shows up, make a note and then remove them from the group.
Let’s take a walk on the Mafioso side of things. This meeting is obviously a trap, the fact that a previous meeting took place before this one does not add validity to it but makes it even more likely to be trap. This reveals who has direct contact and influence on who, what small factions they had within the social sphere, and it reveals who is willing to stab the others in the back. This is the perfect setup for a “Night of Long Knives” scenario.
Between June 30 and July 2, 1934 the political opponents, possibly problematic leaders, and other “high value” targets were eliminated (killed) or arrested by the SS and the Gestapo after Adolf Hitler came to power. This move was used to solidify his hold on Germany and its military in addition to his own political power. The cover for these actions was to prevent a coup of the government despite there being no evidence for this. Either way Operation Hummingbird, as it is some times called, is a prime example of internal drama leading to the “removal of obstacles”. The targets of this purge were well known within the organizations involved and the executions were done pretty much within their headquarters while others were merely caught up in it.
Now this is an extreme example, but it doesn’t mean an overly convenient meeting isn’t going to lead to people being tossed out of a group or fired. If the meeting is to take place with a secret group that you’re not affiliated with it is best not to go. Neutrality or more likely loyalty to your own interests/faction takes precedent. You should only join a group if you really believe it to be necessary. If they have to try and convince you to join them, especially if you are very far down the list of “Contact these”, you should walk away and get as far out of Dodge as possible.
Think about it.
Sincerely,
The Irreverent Gentleman
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