You are not the first boss who sometimes lies awake because of these kinds of questions. There are many, so let's continue: Do I have a view of the real bottlenecks within my company from that ivory tower? And do I really get all the information from the board members in the boardroom as CEO? The HR department may tell me that employees are really satisfied, but when did I last see the work floor up close?
It is, of course, very easy to reduce contact with the floor or simply not have it. Employees of a company larger than about 25 people would rather not have the boss on the floor. In large companies, there are certainly three and often four layers of management between the top and the work floor. Try breaking through that, casually.
Bosses are just people too!
Yet something is becoming increasingly clear, although it remains new: bosses are just people with all their shortcomings. People do not see everything, people do not know everything, and people make mistakes. In our - often unnatural - hierarchy, we elevate a small part of our fellow humans onto a pedestal, who are then expected to lead us. But if we do not provide those people with the right information, if we keep those people away from everything that constitutes reality, how can they lead us?
'The jester made the king look in the mirror from time to time'
In the past, in a long-forgotten time, kings had a similar problem. No one in the court dared to tell the king the truth. Except for one courtier: the jester. His main task was even to keep the king grounded. We now know him as the funny little man (very rarely was the jester a woman) who provided entertainment at court, but the court jester was much more. He was the confidant of the king, his main advisor, his friend, and sometimes the jester was also sent to another court to speak on behalf of the king. The court jester provided reflection of power in the past. The jester made the king look in the mirror from time to time.
Reflection as a necessity
Reflection is an important part of our functioning and, especially for leaders, not a luxury. In a conscious reflection process, assumptions are questioned and one learns from and with others; this is both necessary and challenging. For humans, it can be difficult to look honestly at ourselves and see what we do and do not do, especially in these times of compelling social media. In those bubbles, we are actually only looking for confirmation, and appreciation often revolves around superficial matters. The honest search for motives, existential questions, and moral themes has completely disappeared from sight.
Twenty years ago, scientists decided to put the court jester under the magnifying glass. The academics of that time said the same thing as I do now: the court jester reflects, he invites reflection. Without that reflection, no one can truly grow. Reflection provides insight into who you are, what you value, how you act, and what the consequences are. A well-known and fun example is the story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by three spirits with his past, present, and future. He is forced to reflect, and as a result, he realizes that he is not on the right path and knows that he must change.
From court jester to professional jester
The court jester at court has sadly disappeared throughout history, but his ideas have remained alive. Although the court jester long led a dwindling existence in bad stories and Hollywood films, he has been experiencing a revival for about twenty years. At the end of the twentieth century, the first court jesters reappeared in English organizations and boards. Gradually, other countries followed, including the US and the Netherlands. Now there are about 200 professional court jesters, or professional jesters, active in both England and the Netherlands.
The professional jesters now honor their ancestors. With the extensive palette of court jester methods, this modern jester keeps the king, or the CEO, or the boss, on track. I am now promoting the court jester idea at RMS Erasmus and I have a company that allows me to enter many businesses as a court jester; in the past, among others, with the well-known office software maker AFAS.
'You'd better not have a narcissist at the helm'
Now, there is of course a certain type of leader who is not receptive to reflection. Who does not care a bit whether the work floor is satisfied. Who sets the lines and thinks that everyone should follow. Who thinks he or she is great and that there is nothing to improve. Who also believes that he is always right and who actually cannot get enough of himself. If you don't have an image of this yet: think MAGA.
In boardrooms, there are relatively more of those kinds of narcissists than outside. The myth of Narcissus is the story of obsessive self-love for one's own reflection and how that wrong love ultimately leads to the loss of everything that is dear. You'd better not have such a leader at the helm of a company.
With such a narcissist as a boss, it is difficult to steer in another direction. Narcissists also attract yes-men. They hope to land good jobs in the slipstream of strong leaders and therefore rarely think critically. The leaders of organizations can easily start believing in their own perspective and thus lose sight of reality.
But are you as an organization with a narcissist at the top also doomed? Sometimes it goes quite well, although that can come at the expense of work pleasure and the health of the employees. But here too, the court jester offers a solution: you should never confront a narcissist head-on. In contradiction, the court jester uses his humor. Make a narcissist laugh, and the chance that the previously unreachable self-absorbed person becomes receptive to your arguments is much greater!
About Juri Hoedemakers
Juri Hoedemakers is a speaker, writer, and is now obtaining his doctorate on the court jester idea. He previously won the thesis prize at RMS Erasmus for his research on the value of the court jester. His book Wanted: Court Jester was nominated as Management Book of the Year. Want to know more? Visit drshofnar.nl
