Have you ever watched the 1992 cinematic classic Glengarry Glen Ross? If not, youโre missing out on one of the most intense and brutal takedowns of the modern workplace. While the homogenous casting dates it a bit, the filmโbased on David Mametโs playโoffers a high-octane drama populated by Hollywood heavyweights who greedily chew up the scenery.
The setting is a sleazy New York real estate sales office, where a group of amoral hucksters hustle to close deals and keep their jobs. They work off leadsโthe contact information of potential clientsโand are expected to ruthlessly pitch shady investment properties through cold calls. They rely on their wits, guts, and ingenuity. The fierce office culture turns dog-eat-dog when they learn that only the top two โclosersโ will keep their jobs at the end of the month.
The movie offers a blistering critique of toxic masculinity, and we witness the corrupting influence of an environment that rewards unethical behavior. These menโand theyโre all menโare nothing more than grifters with real estate licensesโhorrible people rendered all the more despicable by the relentless pressure from management.
Ultimately, though, the movie is a study of the modern workplace and its abuses. Mamet creates a sort of closed box for the characters to operate in, which may seem artificial, but is it really so different than most workplace cultures? The television show Severance takes this closed-box workplace idea to its extreme, presenting characters whose work life is surgically sealed off from their home life. Even when we use the common phrase โwork-life balance,โ we implicitly portray the workplace as a closed box, treating work as utterly separateโsevered, if you willโfrom life. In doing so, we raise expectations for our non-work life at the expense of our expectations for work, which can never be as satisfying. In short, our mindset itself is unbalanced when we use that popular phrase. Itโs actually quite insidious, as Severance suggests.
In Glengarry Glen Ross, all we see is the work, and sordid work it is. One of the most memorable scenes features a young, foul-mouthed Alec Baldwin as a motivational speaker sent by the front office. He berates the salesmen, humiliating them in a profanity-laced tirade that can be summed up in four words: โCoffee is for closers.โ This vicious affront masquerading as inspiration only heightens the salesmenโs torment and ensures a tragic outcome.
The human element is injected by the revelation that one of the salesmen, Shelleyโbrilliantly played by Jack Lemmonโhas a daughter in the hospital. The heartlessness of his situation, the fundamental inhumanity, seems too grotesque to be true. But itโs the stark reality of millions whose employers see them only as โresourcesโ ripe for exploitation.
The toxicity of this particular sales office is off the charts, but Iโve personally witnessed work environments nearly as bad. The corruption and short-term thinking of those at the top cause those below to become anxious and desperate. The ones who ostensibly succeed at this contemptible game are the ones who emulate or enable their noxious overlords. Everyone else either knuckles under or is ultimately cast aside. I explored this topic in depth in How People Sort Themselves under a Bad Boss.
Glengarry Glen Ross? No, Glengarry Good Boss
Now letโs imagine what this real estate sales office would look like if it were run by competent, ethical leadership. Of course, it probably wouldnโt even exist in this form since no decent, values-forward leader would ever get caught up in a scheme to sell crappy properties to gullible marks. But letโs pretend, for the sake of argument, that the land theyโre selling is actually desirable and reasonably priced.
In this reboot, the firmโs management would be genuinely concerned with the wellbeing of both the salesmen and their customers. No one would be forced to make an untoward sale, and no customer would be tricked or coerced into a reckless purchase. The office manager would strive to maximize the sales potential of his team by treating the good leads not as rewards but as resources to be leveraged for cooperation and collaboration, not cutthroat competition.
The top seller, Tony Roma (played by Al Pacino) would still be a formidable force, but his restless nature and gift of gab would be channeled toward inspiring and encouraging his colleagues, not lording it over them. Instead of conning leads who neither want nor can afford what he's selling, he'd be a shining example of what's possible when you combine skill, passion, and a genuine desire to serve the customer.
His fellow salesmen would function as a true team, working together toward the twin goals of happy customers and higher profits. Theyโd share leads, assist each other in sales, and take pride in their collective success. And poor Shelley, the salesman with the daughter in the hospital, would have decent health insurance to cover her care and a sympathetic manager to cover his hospital visits.
When that motivational speaker from the front office appears, instead of threats and vulgarities, heโd deploy ideas and shared values that truly inspire, teaching the team to build on their strengths. After all, they made it this far somehow. What got them here, and how can it move them further?
And what about the customers? Theyโd be content, even happy, with their investment. Theyโd feel satisfied and taken care of, rather than humiliated and taken advantage of. They might even return to invest more and would be persuaded to encourage friends and family to trust this reputable firm as well. Thatโs right, no more salesmen cold-calling leads at night, pressuring clients to make a hasty investment decision with longterm consequences.
Of course, this happy scenario has a fatal flaw: It would make for a dreadful movie. The drama of the real film is in the intensity and raw emotion of its frantic characters, the ferocious competition, and the calamitous downfall. A kinder, gentler workplace, such as the one I described, just wouldnโt have the same visceral impact on the screen.
There is another flaw in my happy workplace, though. It comes across as contrived and pie in the sky even, which is the real tragedy. We can more readily accept the over-the-top viciousness of Glengarry Glen Ross than its opposite. Toxicity is expected, normal even. But why canโt a more collaborative, respectful, and ethical workplace be the norm? The very fact that my reimagined version of Glengarry Glen Rossโcall it Glengarry Good Bossโfeels so unsatisfying and unrealistic is a testament to how far we still have to go.
I encourage you to watch the film less as a commentary on masculine corruption and more as a workplace dramaโa critique of modern office culture. Great leadership committed to treating people as human beings, not just "resources" or โmarks,โ would transform this sales office and likely boost sales in the long run. It might not make the best cinema, but such a norm surely would be a welcome change in the real world.
How often have you encountered toxic work environments? What could have been accomplished if such toxic workplaces were healthy instead?
Great leaders must understand how to recognize and actively eliminate the toxic elements of their work culture, and I can help.
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๐ ๐๐ข ๐๐๐ก๐ซ๐ช๐๐๐, ๐๐.๐ฟ., ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ 30 ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ฎโ๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด.
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