Presidential aides should stop feeding Duterte’s insecurities

Presidential aides should stop feeding their boss’ insecurities. Malice incites more malice. They make him lose equanimity. Their own inadequacies are exposed. Distrust and despair spread. Filipinos lose.

All humans have fears. Kings, presidents, CEOs are not exempt. The burden of responsibility magnifies self-doubts in the mind of the leader. “It’s lonely at the top,” said American entrepreneur, author, podcaster Tim Ferris. “Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for ‘realistic’ goals.”

During President Rody Duterte’s taped national address in the aftermath of Typhoon Ulysses, an aide was overheard whispering to him. Supposedly a group of students at UP-Diliman were asking “#NasaanAngPangulo?” at the height of the howler. Irked, Duterte threatened to cut the state university’s funding if they went on campus strike. His spox later had to clarify that the President apparently confused the UP uproar with that in nearby private Ateneo. Still, what did the whisperer gain? She likely thinks she became close to the President’s heart. But does she realize the disappointment of tens of thousands of other UP students, professors and staff, including at the Philippine General Hospital, at the prospect of less subsidies?

It was like how Duterte earlier upbraided pandemic medical frontliners. He had confused them with artists singing a Tagalog translation of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” whom he in turn confused with social media hecklers for him to resign. Apparently the daily political-intelligence briefers are giving Duterte a bum steer. What’s their agenda?

And which aides murmured to him that Vice President Leni Robredo was upstaging him in disaster rescue and relief? All the latter did was help typhoon victims in her limited means. But false whispers provoked Duterte to malign the woman for 20 minutes on national television. The whisperers again likely think they’ve become the boss’ favorites. But they distracted him from using the vast resources of the presidency for emergency action. They antagonized victims and aid donors witnessing the No. 1 official fulminating at the No. 2.

Leaders need A-1 info and advice to make sound judgments. But courtiers harbor personal agenda and can lead to the leader’s downfall, as Rasputin did. “Power is coveted, sought and tightly held on to,” wrote management professors M. Ena Inesi and Adam D. Galinsky. “From the animal kingdom to all human societies, power is the currency of success.” That’s why aides strive to be more proximate to the center than they already are. If fooled by the courtiers, The Prince ultimately is answerable, Machiavelli said.

The well-meaning will tell the leader like it is, in proper context. They will help him overcome insecurities. Psychologist Ellen Hendriksen, PhD, prescribes three antidotes:

• Avoid emotional reasoning. Don’t mistake feelings for reality. 

• Stop reading minds. It makes you think others are judging or rejecting you.

• Don’t take things personally. Most likely it is nothing about you.

To those, spiritual advisers add the factor of the Almighty. They help leaders find solace in the Bible, Koran or Talmud. The devil capitalizes on one’s fears and self-doubts to sow division and discord. Leaders need grounding on a Supreme Being.

Duterte’s predecessors had their ups and downs. Cory Aquino got piqued and sued an opinion columnist for libel. Losing the court case pulled down her political stock.

Fidel Ramos tirelessly won over business and political critics via dialogue. One time he even alighted from the presidential limo to chat with youth protesters. His forehead bled when a placard accidentally hit him. Unperturbed, he simply wiped his wound with a hanky and explained his side of the issue. That won him admiration for sincerity.

Friends recruited a retired management coach to help Joseph Estrada sort out complex state matters. But the adviser quit, unable to stand the “midnight cabinet” of presidential drinking and mahjong buddies, who led to Erap’s downfall.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo excelled by picking the brains of specialists. She simplified her leadership style thus: “Do your best; let God do the rest.”

Noynoy Aquino deftly defied Chinese sea expansionism. But reliance on an inept economic team blinded him from the spreading corruption. The “#NasaanAngPangulo” clamor began during his tenure with the massacre of the SAF-44.

Duterte would do well to shun yes-men. They only infect him with a siege mentality, as if the whole world is against them. They seem to disbelieve the surveys showing 90-percent approval for the President. Maybe he should ask them why.

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My latest book compilation of columns has been completed. “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is about corruption and illegalities that encourage China sea aggression. Watch out for the launch.

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