In the latest James Bond movie Specter, the Hero’s true enemy is finally unmasked as the head of the nefarious Specter organization. Ernst Stavros Blofeld reveals himself to be the master of all the evil that has befallen the legendary man with a license to kill.
Is there an MSP Business lesson hidden in this fictional Spy movie? Let’s consider where this enemy came from and what triggered the rivalry and see if there is a teachable moment.
Where do Enemies Come From?
In the Bond movie it’s revealed that Blofeld’s Father adopted James after his parents died. This means that essentially that these two arch rivals were once on the same team and in the same family. The powerful lesson here is that most of the time your biggest and most powerful enemies will come from people that were once a part of your team. Just look at the rivalry that existed for half a century between Thomas Edison and Nicolai Tesla. It might surprise you to know that Tesla worked for Edison at the beginning of his career and that is where they became enemies for life.
The lesson for an MSP Business is that they should be alert they might be looking at their next powerful enemy right among their current, vendor, partners, sales people, tech staff etc. This is the first step to avoiding the creation of powerful enemies by nipping it in the bud.
What Triggers the Creation of an Enemy?
We can learn from the fictional story between James Bond and Ernst Blofeld as we already know they were in the same family, but what caused them to become enemies? Mr. Blofeld reveals this answer when as he begins a monologue before attempting to kill James. He admits to the oldest motivates and that is jealous since his real Father took the orphan James under his wing and began to spend more time with James than his own son Ernst Blofeld.
Of course, in the great rivalry between Thomas Edison and Nicolai Tesla we don’t have an outright admission; but I can speculate on the cause based of some of the books and biographical works I have read. While Tesla was under the employ of Edison he had already developed a superior electrical system to the one that Edison had invented and build his company on. It seems that Edison didn’t want to hear anything about Tesla’s never system and this was probably out of stupidity and jealous. After all what famous CEO like Edison would want to have their life’s work reduced to nothing by one of their upstart new employees that still wet behind the ears?
The Lesson
The key to identifying a potential enemy amongst your ranks and then neutralizing casual factors is to be on the lookout for the Green Monster, Jealousy. The MSP Business executive most look for jealousy in themselves so that don’t shut down creative employees that could have the next big idea and unwittingly turn them into rivals like Edison. In addition, it’s important to treat all employees fairly and not play favorites like Mr. Blofeld apparently did with his adopted son James Bond. If you can master these two areas of potential enemy creation then you just may convert potential enduring enemies into lifetime allies!
