Our CEO Was a Prisoner of His Past

Let’s call him Milton Boring. He was rather boring, but it was not his fault that he was like he was, as you will see if you read on.

Milton was a man that seemed to have little regard for social situations and would speak his mind no matter how it turned out. Someone with no social filter if I could put it that way.

Milton seemed quite weird right from the first time I met him. He was interviewing me for a position at the company and at the time, he was the marketing director. He had achieved quite a lot in his brief career and made no bones about telling me about it. This was what first intrigued me about this strange character with strange mannerisms.

“So how old are you”

I told him my age (not that it had anything to do with me being capable of the position.)

“Well, I am one year older than you, and look at me, head of marketing of a multinational corporation, and there you are still a few levels below me at a local company. I question your ambition. I don’t have time for anyone not willing to go the extra mile, you know, put in what we need to get the job done. We don’t have office hours here, all hours are working hours.”

My response was that I just put my head down and get the job done and never really think about where I should be at a particular point in my life. I just work hard and expect to move up based on results. I suppose he was correct, unlike him I had not spent major energy trying to climb corporate ladders.

I left the interview feeling like I had no chance until the recruitment agency called me the next day. They told me I impressed him with how I handled the interview? That was a complete shock.

I started working there a month later, choosing money over sanity, never do that. It was a stressful time in my life. During the time I worked there, he worked his way up to CEO.

He was a man who would use manipulation techniques and mind control on his staff.

I was lucky enough to be wise to his manipulation. He would plot one against another and use half-truths to discredit my colleagues. He didn’t really like me, as I would not accept his mind games. I always acted casual and uncommitted to any point of view. He would belittle my colleagues behind their backs, and I would remain neutral. I would reply with, “Oh, I’m not sure about that. She does her work, and I run my portfolio. Her numbers look good?”

I found out a bit more about Milton; He was one of a twin, and of the two siblings, he was a lot more like his father in mannerisms and career choice. However, and this is where the issues were, his dad always favored his twin brother over him. Nothing he did would impress his father. His brother had a much lower-paying job. And was nowhere near as ambitious as Milton, who would sell his mother to climb the corporate ladder.

Milton was cold and boring and intense and his identical twin brother was totally the opposite in personality. His brother was interesting and relaxed. Physically, they looked exactly the same, but Milton’s brother got all the personality.

How could one twin have stolen all the personality in the womb? The dichotomy that confronted me, both perplexed and intrigued me.

Could it be that the lack of love and attention from his father had shaped this intense man who not only had a disdain for those around him but also had a disdain for himself? A deeply ingrained hatred of himself. Nothing he did, impressed him, even though he would make arrogant statements I could see through the bravado, to his self-loathing. Superiority complexes and public displays of arrogance can often hide deeper feelings of mediocrity.

Read more here: https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/superiority-complex

His cold and calculated and arrogant ways soon caught up with him. The international head office of the multinational pharmaceutical company we were working for investigated Milton for staff turnover. He was topping the charts for staff turnover worldwide. Not only that, he was the CEO who had achieved the greatest staff turnover in the company's history. It was about a year later that I noticed on LinkedIn that he was unemployed.

He had a great business brain and was a strong strategic thinker, but his heart was hardened and cold. Like his father, he was a good business leader, but the love of his father was what he lacked.

I softened my attitude toward him when I learned more about his background, but in no way did I support his behavior. A while ago I noticed (LinkedIn) that he was CEO at another company, so hopefully, he does well there.

When we get a deeper understanding of someone’s background, we can often then see them with renewed eyes and understanding, and that, to me, is wisdom.