Seems like Mopey is making really major strides getting to grips with that whole ‘leadership’ thing.
She has obviously realized that good leadership mostly consists of making good decisions, but that the appearance of good leadership depends just as much on presenting the results in an…uh…properly prioritized way. It’s okay to have your successes taking centre stage, but if the results of your decisions aren’t entirely successful, keeping them off-screen might be the wiser decision, as far as maintaining your image is concerned.
Much of this realization she owes to her observation of the Professor, of course, who had vast experience in these matters. I was tempted to say that it was easy for her to emulate him, in that regard, since her attempts at charming the editor into making some deft and favorable cutting decision are so much more effective than the Professor’s similar attempts. But, believe me, it’s not as easy as it appears…it’s not easy for Mopey to go against her better nature and try to appear sweet and demure, even if only for a few moments. The Professor had fewer problems with that, but the effect on the editor also wasn’t as pronounced.
And Mopey also has picked up another important leadership technique: phrasing. Always refer to a past blunder as “ill-fated mission”, as if the failure was due to higher forces, rather than poor planning. In the debriefing, stress how many valuable lessons were learned for future missions, without specifying that they were only lessons about the consequences of poor planning. And of course, you aren’t doing that to make yourself look less bad – you’re only doing it to console the widows.
More on Thursday!