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I was watching one of the TV/cable talk shows last week and
heard an author (I don’t recall his name) describing an
article he had written for Fast Company Magazine. The title
of the article is “Is Your Boss A Psychopath? The author was
terrific on camera…glib, fun, and definitive about the
subject.
I started thinking about some of my former bosses as to
whether they fit into the psychopath category. I’ll let you
decide on a GM I worked for. I won’t mention any names or
call letters for obvious reasons.
This GM boss was very demanding of my personal attention. I
was HIS PD and assistant GM. It was like I didn’t belong to
the company…but was HIS alone. This was a very prominent
station at the time. He was a well known GM. He traveled to
New York frequently to call on national accounts. I was
assigned to drive him to the airport, and carry his three or
four bags to the ticket counter for check in. (I guess he
did not like red caps). He was always at the ticket counter
when I panted up to him, carrying his bags. If I didn’t get
to the counter on time, forcing him to wait to check the
luggage, he would start yelling and screaming at me across
the airport lobby. “Hurry up, boy….get that luggage over
here this very minute. You are holding up the rest of these
people wanting to check in”. People stopped and stared at
this raving guy. After the luggage was checked, and as he
was turning to walk to his gate he always screamed, “Boy,
take my car by the Caddiliac dealership and leave it for
servicing. When I get back in two days pick it up, and then
pick me up as I arrive and do NOT be late”. And he never
tipped me!!!
The same GM planned a huge party for the local advertisers
to celebrate a banner revenue month. He advised me “to
invite the radio station department heads, but no other
staff members”. The owner of the station was also invited
and was unhappy with the GM’s mandate. The owner asked me to
invite ALL of the station staff for a celebratory private
dinner after the party. I did as the owner requested. The GM
picked up his date, and was late arriving at what he thought
would be a department heads only dinner. When he walked in
and saw the entire staff drinking and dining his face
reddened…and I knew I was in serious trouble. He came
charging over to me and said, loudly, for all staff members
to hear, “I told you only department heads. This dinner will
cost me a fortune”. The owner overheard the GM’s screaming,
stood up and said, “No…it will not cost you a fortune…it
will cost ME a fortune…but these are the employees who got
us where we are….they are paying your salary as well as the
bank notes… Mr. GM. If you don’t like it…leave”. The GM told
his date, “Let’s get out of here”, and walked out. Why the
GM wasn’t fired the next day was beyond me!!!
Another incident…same station, same GM. New station jingles
had been produced. I was ordered by the owner to start
broadcasting them as soon as I received them. The GM was on
a cruise. Our powerful signal reached well into the ocean. I
got a trans-oceanic phone call….a very angry call… from the
GM ordering me to “take off the new jingles, go back to the
old ones”. I explained that the owner told me to use them as
soon as possible. The GM said, “I’m getting off this ship at
the next port and flying back there immediately. Pick me up
at the airport.” I called the owner and said I thought I was
going to be fired. The owner said, “have the GM call me when
he gets in”. I did. The GM started screaming at the owner on
the phone, and again the tell tale anger sign… the GM had a
very red face. The conversation lasted two minutes. The GM
had the first 15 seconds…and the owner the rest. The GM
said, “But I am the GM here…I have every right to remove
those jingles… they are terrible”. The owner said, “but, I
am the owner, and I produced those jingles personally in
Dallas, and I think they are fabulous. And, Mr. Burkhart is
my assistant manager and PD…and you know our programming
policy…including which jingles to air… comes from MY
office”. I wasn’t fired, but my life was miserable enough
with this GM, that I thought I should leave as soon as I
found a new job. Within months I had located something
new!!! Sanity, at last.
I know all of the above because I WAS THERE. I have only
written about three of hundreds of incidences regarding this
particular GM. Now, I am not a doctor. I was a guy trying to
do a good job…which I did despite all the GM turmoil. We
were always first place in ratings. So…I don’t know whether
this GM was a psychopath or not??? I just don’t know. Rude,
yes. Impersonal, yes. But a psychopath…I don’t know. I would
like to know your opinion. Let me know. And let me know if
you want some other GM stories…I have quite a few!!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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