That uptight, serious looking guy on the unemployment line this week may be General Stanley McChrystal.
Word is, the President may have to can him because he did the one thing you’re not supposed to do — he and his underlings dogged the big bosses.
It’s never a good idea to say anything negative about the boss unless it’s to the boss’ face; and even then you’re taking your chances.
Clearly the General must have known this. But for some reason he and a group of unnamed aides, mocked Obama and a bunch of other government bigwigs in a Rolling Stone article of all things. The story was titled: “The Runaway General” but it should have been titled “The General’s Runaway Mouth.”
What will probably remain unclear is why he gave the reporter of the story such access to he and his inner circle. Public relations folks have been scratching their heads over this since last night. I had an interesting Facebook conversation with Samantha Topping, a PR professional.
She said:
As a PR professional - it makes me wonder about the Pentagon’s process - who, if anyone, approved the interview - who, if anyone, staffed it - and which PR person dropped the ball on follow up.
It is perplexing, but the fall out isn’t a surprise.
You don’t let anything negative get out about your boss that can be tied to you. Is this too difficult to figure out?
OK, no one is going to want to interview you in Rolling Stone about your boss, but you still have to keep a lid on your criticisms. I can’t tell you how many stories I hear about someone taking shots at their boss on Twitter or Facebook and then having that come back to haunt them.
I know, you have privacy settings on your accounts, but sorry folks, if you have more than one friend there’s always a chance that your buddies may inadvertently leak your boss-bashing to someone who knows someone who knows your boss.
Sometimes I just don’t get the things people do, especially those who really, really want to hold on to their jobs.
There’s a fan page on Twitter called: “My Boss is a Jerk” and it has 85 fans…all public I might add. And the page actually says, “all content open to the public.”
For those of you who are wondering if you can be legally fired for things you say outside of work on your personal Facebook page or on your blog, or in blog comments, the answer is YES. If you don’t have a union contract, or you’re not fired for some other reason like for race or religion, you’re pretty much risking your job. Free speech as it pertains to job security is not protected.
Look, I’m all for free speech, and I love people who tell it like it is. But, if you want to keep your job don’t join my-boss-is-a-jerk sites.
If you want to vent, vent to a sibling, a parent, a significant other. Bitch to your dog even. I don’t care what a hard ass your boss is, no one likes to get derided in public.
This quote from an unnamed McChrystal underling in the Rolling Stone piece is one that I think was the most damning:
McChrystal thought Obama looked “uncomfortable and intimidated” by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn’t go much better. “It was a 10-minute photo op,” says an adviser to McChrystal. “Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him, who he was. Here’s the guy who’s going to run his fucking war, but he didn’t seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.”
It would be hard for any manager to keep an employee after that one, no?