Missing out on promotion unleashes a workplace plotter’s devious plan
The problem
Brave and competent soldier Othello murders his wife, wrongly convinced she has been unfaithful. He has been duped by his seemingly loyal advisor Iago, who plays on Othello’s insecurities to engineer his downfall. Iago’s motives are trivial – he believes he has been unfairly passed over for promotion – but he is shrewd and manipulative, and cleverly controls the actions of those around him.
The solution
“It is often very difficult to identify a well-established, evil plotter like Iago operating in the workplace, and you probably won’t be aware of them until it’s too late,” says Jan Smit, founder of Bard in the Boardroom workplace training. Iago holds the role of counsellor to Othello, but offers only misguided and dangerous advice, which is one of the most difficult situations to tackle in a working environment where power plays and corporate politics can often prevail, says Smit.
“If you’re going to confront someone like Iago who has worked the crowd and built up a following, first collect the evidence, plan a counter strategy and decide who best to raise the issue with before going in all guns blazing,” says Smit. It’s a piece of advice Emilia would have benefited from before prematurely revealing Iago’s intentions and meeting her untimely death in 16th century Cyprus.
His capacity for cruelty seems limitless, yet his talent for understanding and exploiting a situation makes Iago a compelling character. As John Bolton, head of content strategy, global marketing at State Street, warns in his 2014 Ted Talk: “In these days of slick and spin, favour those who speak from the heart, not those who are confident but lack honesty. Don’t be taken in.”