January Recap and Cults Redux. Sort of.

Staring down the end of January, my year began with a 2024 resolution to plant seeds. Now that I’m through the first month, I can say that this practice has renewed my interest in journalling while reminding me that seeking opportunities often takes time as well. I do feel accomplished, though, that I’ve planted career-related seeds I typically wouldn’t think to plant. From what my peers have told me, the places I’ve submitted to are all highly competitive and, as such, it’s a good idea to search for lesser-known opportunities in addition to more popular choices.

Shroom it up! Need a fun art challenge for February? In 2023, I had a lot of fun exploring watercolor paints and pencils to illustrate mushrooms during #Funguary. (You can visit BooksOfM on Ko-Fi to enjoy several mushrooms in all their splendor.) Since 2020, I've been keen on monthly challenges—especially during the winter months—but have typically shared the results. This year, I’m tackling a personal challenge for February, instead. If you plan on participating, visit @feefal on Instagram, X, or Tumblr. Please let me know if you’re diving into shrooms!

On that note, as my newsletter title suggests I was going to talk to you, once again, about cults. That, dear reader, was... Well, a half-truth, for I don’t know quite how to phrase: “I’d love to write to you about this other topic, but I'll do my best to connect the two.” So, last time I talked about cults? This time, I want to talk about my observations related to books about leadership and management, but don’t worry. I’ll end by bridging the two topics.

Over the past five years, I’ve sought out a lot of books related to management and leadership and had a couple of disconnects. So many managerial books are either written by men or written in the language of men. It’s as if the words “caring” and “compassion” are considered weaknesses or acts reserved only for personal, family life. The other disconnect I had was regarding how many books are written about “difficult” people and identifying personality types.

Now, it’s true that corporate culture, regardless of company, has certain conservative-leaning hallmarks. Culture is and always has been complicated, but the onus—most often—has been put on workers to fit in rather than leaders shaping the culture. What’s driving my disconnect is that personality tests are bullshit.

I once made the mistake of being very proud of my rare Meyers-Briggs personality result; just like everyone else I want to belong, but I am proud of my uniqueness, too. Then, I watched the documentary Persona: The Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests, and compared the information against my own experiences. Finally, the last gear locked into place. “Oh, oh of course,” I told myself. “Those tests exist to weed out the Other. To weed out anyone who’s different, which includes neurodivergent.”

Taking that into consideration, think about all those books sitting on manager’s shelves about “difficult” people and personality frameworks to identify those workers. Add in a healthy dose of biases and suddenly, those workers become “problems” to be solved.

What I’d like to see are management books that facilitate the capacity to allow a worker to complete their tasks in the way that works for them. Highlight how some people thrive with clear direction while others stumble. Show how trust, rather than forcing people back into an office environment, can not only work but is necessary. Instead of hyper-focusing on personality, pinpoint communication styles, instead, and talk about ways to build healthy, diverse cultures and what’s required to maintain them.

It’s been challenging to find books like that. I don’t know if any already exist, so if they do feel free to recommend them. I’d also like to find a book that talks to men about how to understand and help women dealing with other toxic women. There’s a fantastic book called Working With Bitches by Meredith Fuller that’s helped me immensely, but it’d be wonderful to have a book to recommend that addresses what actually happens so those who are unaware of this unique flavor of frackery understand it’s not hype or hysteria. Unfortunately, some women can be unusually cruel to other women, and then flip a switch when engaging with others.

Okay, so can I link this topic back to cults? Absolutely! “Beware the cult of personality.”

Though I personally don’t believe there’s such a thing as a “good” cult, I do think there are great leaders out there. There’s also awful leaders who’ve taken that mantle because of their position or wealth. Cultists forming around a personality perceive them to be leaders. They may connect to that individual indirectly; they may not even speak or know them in real life.

It’s common to find communities of fans and supporters who exist (or orbit) around a personality. That said, they can become cults when a) that personality is perceived as someone who can do no wrong and b) the fans/supporters are attacked, risking their place in that community, the minute their faith in that person is questioned. Some leaders, unfortunately, encourage an all-or-nothing devotion and fall into their own hype while others aren’t aware that such a cultist community exists. Cults swirling around a personality are interesting, because they can grow organically or intentionally—they’re not as cut-and-dry as a grifter surrounding themselves with people they collect.

Great, welcoming communities encourage people to make their own decisions in their own best interests. Forming communities around people can and does happen, but the minute those folks stop thinking for themselves? CULT!

If you have a book to recommend or would like to continue the conversation, feel free to comment! Next time, I’ll share with you February’s goal to help your own garden grow.