Photo by Caveman 92223 � On the 2010 US Tour

I was watching the movie Valkyrie the other day on HBO.  If you haven’t seen it, it a Hollywoodized version of a plot to kill Hitler by his own officers.  I was struck by the scene in which Tom Cruise’s character arrives at a conference at Hitler’s private retreat.  Because he’s a war hero who has been maimed, he appears above reproach, and his briefcase is not searched for anything deadly.  The same briefcase that contains the bomb meant for Hitler.

The irony of this is that the surrounding area of the camp was heavily guarded.  You see German soldiers in trenches, staring out at the woods, waiting for an enemy that would slip by them, wearing their own uniform no less.  One bored soul kills a mosquito with the lit end of his cigarette.  The soldiers were expecting an enemy dressed in the uniform of the Red Army, not the German Army.  They were lulled into a false sense of security.

Why this scene struck me has to do with recent events at work.  A recent addition to our team, Alibi Ike, has a big target painted on him.  Unfortunately, it’s been painted by his own people.  He’s being undermined, and has no idea that it’s his own subordinates who want to take him down.  You can feel the desperation as he tries to maintain control of his department, circling the wagons, so to speak, against an unknown enemy.  If only he knew.

Much like Hitler, he wasn’t expecting his enemies to be from his own camp.  Tensions in his department have been rising steadily, and I expect some form of mutiny in the near future.  I haven’t been asked by either side to intervene, so I’m keeping my nose out of it.  It is great theater, though, watching a conspiracy take shape.  When the coup does occur, the method of assassination won’t be a bomb in a briefcase.  It will be something subtler, like a screwed-up high-profile assignment.  A career-ender.

So that sage advice from Sun-tzu, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”, should come with a caveat: Know who your enemy is first; he may not be the usual suspect.  Then you can take precautions against the figurative bomb in the briefcase.

I’ll keep you posted about the fate of Alibi Ike.

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