And both groups are idjits.
Walz is channeling one of very popular leadership models in the corporate world. If nature endowed you with a soft physique, a higher-pitched voice and a kindly Santa visage, you play it up, and nobody notices how vicious you are.
We have an administrator who puts on exactly this kind of persona but to an even greater degree than Walz. I made the mistake of writing him off immediately as a frumpy lightweight. Until he quietly and with a “sweet grampy” voice narrated to me how he destroyed a certain unfriendly power. This is an unfriendly power that had wrestled 4 Deans and 2 Provosts to the ground. And this fluffy pot-bellied dude in a crumpled shirt that perennially hangs out of his trousers defenestrated it in one conversation. I can’t go into details but this was a “Master and Commander” sort of feat. I very uncharacteristically felt like a little, very sheltered girl protected by a raging demon.
Walz has been mega successful in bending Minnesota in the direction he wanted. You write him off at your own peril. Gender roles, schmender roles. Forget about Walz, it’s not even about him. It’s about what I said earlier. It’s so easy to play people because they try to understand reality based on half a dozen silly clichés they memorized.
After making a few mistakes of this kind, I took a 3-month class in profiling, and now I know immediately where the power center lies in any group I enter and how to work it to my advantage.
Clarissa's Blog 
“took a 3-month class in profiling, I know immediately where the power center lies”
I my case it was a few books on verbal and non-verbal behavior, the book Power! by Michael Korda (ethnography of NYC executives in the early 1970s), a bunch of anthropolgical ethnographies and learning a sign language (crash course in body language and non-verbal communication) and a few other things.
I’m not super fast but I do recognize dangerous people (who almost always use various types of camouflage) very quickly and figure out things going on long before other people do. I once shook a guy to his core by giving a pretty complex rundown of the dynamics of his bride to be’s family (after less than an hour in their company).
One useful tool is the typology of communication-styles (especially but no only in-crisis) model worked out by Virginia Satir…. Walz strikes me as a phony leveler (the most dangerous type, who projects openness and vulnerability in order to gather information that can and will use against you later….).
Trump is a blamer – others are always at fault and always letting them down (Harris is a computer/distracter who doesn’t attribute actions to identifiable people and who uses a lot of empty contradictory rhetoric to escape blame) and Vance is a…. I haven’t actually listened to him enough, there’s some blamer there (cat ladies remarks) but also…. placater? I need to listen to him more… which I _really_ don’t want to do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dang. I’m the complete opposite. I’m really good at recognizing dangerous people, and absolute garbage at reading power hierarchies.
This puts me in weird binds, where I know who to avoid, who to keep my kids away from, but I can’t explain how I know this, and I don’t have the social standing to convince others or make an objection if such a person is angling for a position of authority or even behaving badly. Which is terrifying. I can personally keep myself and my kids safe, but I can’t tell anyone else, because then I’m “being mean” or “imagining things” or “judging without any evidence.” Hi, I’m Cassandra, what’s your name?
Forced myself to watch a bit of Walz video, trying to get a sense of him as a person.
Not really listening to what he’s talking about. Don’t care. The previous question was “is he relatable” and… no. His facial expressions don’t match his words. Watch him when he says he’s “passionate” right there at the beginning. Have you ever seen a more expressionless face on somebody talking about their passion? No, this guy is a performer (you expect this in a politician, but it’s not relatable). He’s got his talking points, the stuff he’s gotta say… and then his facial expressions sort of lag behind. His words have no relation to his thoughts. The highlight here is Fetterman in the background scowling and crossing his arms at the guy. I find Fetterman more relatable than Walz here.
LikeLike
That sounds like a fascinating class. In person? Online?
LikeLike
I would like to second this question, what/where can one find this class?
LikeLike
Just about everyybody who gets this high up in the power hierarchy did so by knowing how to “play the game,” which involves backstabbing, maneuvering, lying, scheming, etc. Trump, Kamala, and Vance most certainly have way worse skeletons in their closets.
LikeLike