I actually received a threat when I proposed this blogpost. 
One of my colleagues told me that she didn’t want anything to do with equating our work to… (picture a disapproving frown) “Jersey Shore.” But hold up. Give me a minute and it will make sense.
Let me be open from the outset. I’ve not actually seen an episode of Jersey Shore. All I have is impressions I’ve picked up from Entertainment Weekly and probably Joel Stein. That said, the Jersey Shore cast strikes me as a group of people in a world of their own making, with special emphasis on self-absorption.
What does this have to do with management? I think at any given moment we as managers can run the risk of getting caught up in a contrived world − a world where the choice to look good crowds out working on meaningful priorities − or where we agree to things that don’t seem quite right because we don’t want to seem stupid − or we don’t want to be the only one speaking up and throwing a wrench in things. Really, it doesn’t take much to create that contrived world where craziness looks sane and sanity looks crazy. It can get to the point where maintaining appearances or jumping for stuff that seems important is reality.
My buddy Joe Gerstandt recently wrote a post suggesting we need more bravery in our leadership. Yes, bravery. I see bravery needed particularly when we are faced with a naked emperor and everyone else is saying, “Looking good,” along with a requisite thumbs-up sign. What if you choose instead to challenge that contrived reality?
I’m going to stop right here because I think you can come up with even more relevant comparisons to the latest reality show. I’m only writing this as a caution (and I thought it would be fun). Where are you perhaps getting caught up in the hype, the “looking good,” at the expense of the business, your employees or your own integrity?
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Mary, you open up a rich and demanding topic here. There are so many places in life where we could stop and ask, “Am I just making all this up?” It’s something I do fairly often, and sometimes wish I didn’t — because it’s disturbing. It seems very tricky to strike a balance between the necessary imagining and creating of a life, and the necessary grounding and connection to what is actually around us. I hope you will expand on this – it sure seems worthy of a series of posts.
Hugs,
Suzanna Stinnett
Great post, Mary.
Management by “popular” or self-centered decision-making backfires over and over again.
Unlike reality TV, it’s not as amusing to watch the consequences when it’s happening in an organization.
Hopefully, more managers will begin understand that “reality” …