Name Dropper? Call the name

Published: Jan 15, 2004

Application

A name dropper is trying to intimidate you with implication or overt references

Call the president or whomever

Why not call the president of a large organization?

You are probably the president of your little company. Identify yourself as such. Mumble the name of your company if necessary.

Prepare your analysis of the situation [who, what, where, when...] to avoid the appearance of a crackpot.

Ask him/her if they are authorizing this person to _______

State your position and increase the intensity until you hear the president swallow his/her tongue.

Resist gloating to allow the bully to "save face", but remember the details for future relapses.

Stories

The Alcoholic

I was invited to clean up a department of a large organization. One of the many trouble makers had all the managers convinced he was a close friend of the president. They had worked together in their earlier days. The president had clawed his way to the top by being a skillful bully.

The trouble maker often disappeared from his area during the workday leaving others mystified as to his whereabouts. My preparation was to follow him to a nearby bar. After he left I struck up a conversation with the bartender to gain all the information required.

The trouble maker was in my office. As soon as the heat was turned up he dropped a reference to his pal, the president. I said, "I'm glad you mentioned (President's first name.) I wanted to talk about that. Does he know how often you visit (name of bar?) While you're hear let's call him." As I turned to pick up the phone he fled.

Colleagues were amazed when he tendered his resignation later that day. It was no surprise when he thanked me, during his early retirement party, for helping him to face his personal problems for the first time in many years.

Submitted by: NephewGerry

IBM Executive in Japan

A disturbance was caused by a client of an agent-employee for another party. In other words, we were so far removed from the source of the problem that the use of this technique was limited.

The father of the disturber intimidated this distant party by referring to his status as a senior executive with IBM-Japan. I didn't think his bosses at IBM needed this kind of behavior while selling to Japan.

I'm reluctant to give any further details of the successful removal of this disturbance. The culture of Japan causes this technique to be less gentle. The effect is even more brusque if done by a Japanese-speaking confidant. I present it as a sample of an indirect attack or a "Catch 22."