The genX'ers may remember Bill Casey from the 80's. He was the CIA director for Ronald Reagan. Casey was involved in some way in the Iran Contra scandal. Unfortunately shortly after the scandal broke Casey died suddenly.
After Casey's death, suddenly everyone was blaming Casey for everything about Iran contra. It was convenient to lay it on Casey. He was involved in it. And since he was dead he couldn't defend himself.
I've seen and heard about this Casey effect in some high tech offices. Basically there's someone who was at least somewhat important for some time. That someone may have made some mistakes along the way or been disliked by some. That person is eventually fired or quits and is no longer around.
After he's gone and can't defend himself, he then becomes a Casey. Every problem, failure, screwup and lost sale is blamed on him. This blaming can go on for a while. A friend of mine is an electronics engineer in BC. He said there was a Casey in his office. That guy was blamed for stuff that happened after he left that he wasn't involved with.
I suspect the Casey effect is not limited to just high tech.
No comments:
Post a Comment