Organizations Need a CCJ — Chief Court Jester

The best decisions leaders make are based on reliable information, sound advice and counsel from their boards. That is the theory. Getting reliable information in the form of good data is often surprisingly easy. In addition, many organizations have access to internal and external experts for good counsel. The problem is when ego and politics clash with what the data and the experts say. This is why companies should have a CCJ — a Chief Court Jester. But as this position does not exist in organizational charts there is another solution: A coach is the perfect reincarnation of the medieval clown. Let me explain.

The corporate landscape is littered with examples of bad decisions driven by egos and politics. For instance, the reason why many have not heard of Blockbuster anymore is that in 2000, the former king of video rentals was so confident about its dominant market position that it declined an offer by the then fledging newcomer Netflix to collaborate. The graphic illustrates what happened next.

The Daimler Chrysler merger of 1998 has become a textbook case for how a failure of cultural compatibility and lack of flexibility can ruin a potentially powerful consolidation. The Germans thought they knew better. The Americans were frustrated about how hierarchies paralyzed the decision-making process and grew impatient.

In many cases, bad decisions are the result of group think, the fear of speaking truth to power, denial and other human failure as opposed to lack of information or expertise. Board members do not want to rock the boat. Direct reports may be too scared for their careers and many a whistle blower’s fate proves their fears right. This creates a toxic dynamic in which outward agreement with everything the CEO says is being rewarded while critical voices are being silenced and pushed into the margins of corporate Siberia. So, how do you get powerful executives to become open to real input? 

Enter the Clowns 
Historically speaking, the job of the court jester was to entertain the ruler. In her book “Fools Are Everywhere. The Court Jester Around the World”, B. Otto describes how jesters could come from a wide range of backgrounds: university dropouts, a monk who had been thrown out of a priory, exceptional jongleurs, or just funny people who happened to meet the right nobleman at the right time. Recruitment was informal and meritocratic. Even more crucially, jesters had the right to sit at table with their master and say whatever came into their heads.
How far they went is still a matter of historical debate. There is agreement that in most cases, the desire to remain employed — and stay alive — placed limits on how much truth they did speak to power. Overall, the jester did poke fun at the ruling elite and to variying degrees could put the finger on the real issue at hand. What then makes a modern-day coach a suitable replacement for a court jester or clown?

Reveal Instead of Expose
For starters, let’s face the elephant in the room: some cynics do think of our guild as a bunch of clowns. However, an underestimated trait of clowns is they are a non-threat. Coaches ask questions and help their clients to get to the bottom of things and to uncover the truth. Our job is not to expose but to hold a safe space and help reveal what is going on below the surface. Exposure comes with judgment. Jesters with a wish to live were at their best when they stepped in to reveal. When coaches help clients reveal things, they do so not to judge but to enable people to undergo a transformation. That work is future- and solutions-oriented. Exposure remains stuck in the past. 

Bring to the Surface what is Mostly Known 
Interestingly, the journey of discovery and revelation often makes people accept things about themselves which their environment has known for a long time but did not dare say. Essentially, we get to know ourselves. A Chief Corporate Jester/coach supports us in getting to know ourselves, which according to Thales of Miletus is one of the hardest things for human beings. 

The Denial of Our Humanity
That basic truth is often a surprise revelation for some. Even the most powerful executives and leaders are only human. Part of the truth about our humanity is our imperfection. On the contrary, a toxic environment often denies leaders their humanity. The temptation for the top executives is to buy into the lie of perfection. 

What good and qualified coaching does is speak truth to power without judgment and self-serving agenda. That also means, a good coach is no threat to other people in the organization. Even more so than a court jester, coaches can only be effective if they follow the cardinal rule of engagement with a client — do not become part of the system. Only outside the system can coaches really speak truth to power. Luckily for us, no one can order a quick beheading. The worst that can happen to us is dismissal.

The Advantage of Corporate Misfits
What else do coaches and court jesters have in common? Just as the court jesters of lore, coaches come from a variety of backgrounds. While many of us are not necessarily university dropouts or social misfits, we are to some extent the equivalent of the monk or nun who left his/her monastery because they realized it wasn’t their thing after all — or it was strongly suggested they’d leave. In today’s corporate speech, we would refer to this as a career change. That means, we use our broad experience from our coaching training and certification process including our careers which can span from corporate to the military, NGO to craftsmanship etc. 

The point is, there is a misunderstanding only coaches with the same industry background or experience as CEO can properly coach a CEO of a bank. The role of the coachee and the industry of the organization are only two factors on a much longer list of equally important variables systemic coaching takes into consideration. In fact, insisting on the same background and industry knowledge puts limitations on the coaching experience exactly because too much familiarity can potentially limit the coach’s questions, associations and ways of probing ideas.

The Power Combination
I cannot relate the same way to the experience of a CFO of a struggling sports company as perhaps the CFO of another sports company could. I am crap at numbers, and I am not much into sports. But I have faced existential threats, I am an immigrant, the son of a refugee, married to a spouse from a different ethnic background, have managed people, moved from continent to continent, raised three kids, provided consulting services to small businesses and Fortune 50 companies, worked in academia, journalism, etc., etc. As result, I can do change and ambiguity. I live diversity in my own house. I am used to feedback. Still, I cannot tell the CFO of our struggling sport company how to avoid a financial free fall. But that is not my job as a coach. That is what a financial consultant or a mentor would do. 

But as coach, I can come along to support the CFO and the organization to handle the challenges for the organization, the repercussions for the roles people have and the impact on the individual persons who fulfill these roles. Coaches merge the totality of their experiences with their training and utilize this powerful combination to facilitate the transformation of organizations and the people who are part of these organizations. This goes far beyond the balance sheet and cashflow problems our imaginary sports company has. The tangible financial impact of coaching can be to make the organizational transformation sustainable which will be required to ensure the continued success of the venture.

Following a Proud Tradition
Organizations and their leaders benefit immensely from insights, feedback and perspectives shared by someone from outside their system and thought processes. Revealing truth is hard but the potential upswing can make or break a leader and the organization. Against this background, I don’t mind being thought of as a clown. The reality is, as a certified systemic coach I follow a proud tradition — as long as you don’t expect me to don a red nose.

This blogpost was also published in German on crimalin.com on September 10, 2024.