Obedience - It Can Get the Ambitious Ahead, But It Can Also Get Them Stuck

 

"Elie Mystal Says GOP Likes Herschel Walker Because He Does What He’s Told: ‘That’s What Republicans Want From Their Negroes’" - Mediaite, July 30, 2022.

Elie Mystal, author of bestseller "Allow Me to Retort," got to be a prominent legal and political influencer by not being obedient. That could be a lesson for the ambitious. Or maybe not.

Essentially Mystal launched his iconoclastic public persona on legal site Abovethelaw.com. He was unfiltered. Soon enough he was Editor-in-Chief there. Then he left, not obeying the traditional career advice of sticking with what is solid. But his move has brought him wild success.

That's Mystal. He could take that risk. One reason is that his wife is a well-paid lawyer. Also, he seems to not be burdened with the layers of self-doubt that triggers excessive caution in strivers.

The path more followed is obedience. That is, conforming. And it can be a critical professional strategy in lines of work dominated by power politics. Those range from careers in large law firms to the Fortune 100 to Inside the Beltway. 

Disagree with the prevailing ideology and that could be the end of not only the job or contract assignment but also the ability to land comparable work. You are labeled as "trouble."

As the miniseries "The Comey Rule" depicts, the former FBI director James Comey was ousted from the position he loved probably because he didn't fall in line with the mandates of US President Donald Trump. It is not likely Comey will ever regain such an important position again. Yes, you could be finished. Success often requires an establishment platform. You have to be inside. 

 Obedience, though, can also be risky. Follow orders in a "regime" that is fading or that doesn't care about you and your career can get stuck. Obedience was the ideology former late-night show host Jay Leno observed. He was a good solider and didn't rebel in a public way when it was declared that he was over. He probably got something out of it. You usually do. But could he have gotten more, like launching a new persona, had he openly pushed back on that decision? 

 

There is also the issue of conflicting demands for obedience. As a segment in "The Comey Rule" features, then US Attorney General Loretta Lynch did something quite controversial. It could have, yes, finished her.

 While Hillary Clinton was being investigated for how she used email her still-politically powerful husband Bill Clinton requested that Lynch meet with him on the tarmac at the Phoenix airport. She did. Obviously there was a conflict between obedience to what is expected as US Attorney General and what is routine in party politics. Later US President Donald Trump did fire her, as with Comey. But she landed on a new career path in private practice. Currently she is a partner at law firm Paul Weiss. 

In a volatile global economy, obedience should be questioned. Among other things you could be associated with dying brands and no longer taken seriously. That used to be called "loyalty." It had been expected. More recently among astute players it is viewed as an anachronism. The smart move is to look out for yourself, modifying your positions, depending on how the wind blows and how much heat you assess you can handle. Success is increasingly about the ability to handle the heat.

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