A political cartoon from the 1840 U.S. Presidential campaign, which offers several illustrations of the techniques described here. View a larger image. The description of the cartoon by the U.S. Library of Congress reads, in part: "A Whig campaign print, showing William Henry Harrison greeting a wounded veteran before a log cabin by a river. A coonskin is tacked to the side of the cabin, two barrels of hard cider stand by, and a farmer ploughs a field in the distance. The text below the image describes the scene: This Log Cabin 'was the first building erected on the North Bend of the beautiful Ohio River, with the barrel of cider outside and the door always open to the traveller.'" In the campaign, between the Whigs and Democrats, Democrats cast Harrison as provincial and out of touch — an old man who would rather "sit in his log cabin drinking hard cider" than attend to the duties of office. This was a reference to Harrison's having retired to his farm after his defeat in the campaign of 1836. In effect, Democrats were rewriting history by depicting Harrison's dignified retirement as a retreat into alcoholism. In response, Harrison and his vice presidential running-mate, John Tyler, adopted the log cabin and hard cider as campaign symbols to appeal to the common man, as depicted in the cartoon. It was in this campaign that the Whigs used the memorable slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." Tippecanoe was a nickname of Harrison, referring to a military victory he crafted as a general in 1811. Finally, to create distrust of the Democrats, the Whigs, in reference to the Panic of 1837 under the Democratic incumbent President Martin van Buren, took to referring to the President as "Van Ruin." Photo courtesy the U.S. Library of Congress American cartoon print filing series.
Creating distrust in oneself is easy — tell a few lies, originate a few nasty rumors, dishonor your commitments, and then get caught at it. But creating distrust in others — and getting away with it — takes real talent, because the obvious ploys often backfire. For instance, telling a lie about someone else might work for a while, but people might someday learn the truth, and when they do, they often realize where the lie came from.
To give people reasons to distrust someone else, and get away with it, you must be in the right place, with the right set of tools, and use a little bit of cleverness.
This essay isn't intended as a handbook for the ruthless, but it's written that way for clarity. I hope that when you sense yourself beginning to distrust someone, you'll suspend judgment until after you determine whether anyone is using any of these techniques, or anything similar. With that cautionary note, here are some methods for creating distrust of someone else. We'll call the target Tom.
- Withhold all good news
- Repeating any good news about Tom, his accomplishments, or his abilities undermines your goal. Never give your target anything of value for free.
- Raise questions
- Although questions aren't actually accusations, and therefore need no evidence, they can nevertheless have the effect of accusations. At every opportunity, raise questions about Tom's talents, his situation, his past, his intentions, or his prospects. If opportunities to raise questions don't arise, create some.
- Elevate competitors
- If any others can do what Tom can do, extol their capabilities. Elevating potential substitutes makes people comfortable with Tom's eventual disappearance or exclusion. Tom becomes less important.
- Characterize past events
- Minimize Tom's past accomplishments by re-interpreting or inventing history. The elements of the past most suitable for this purpose are those that reside mostly in people's memories, with a minimum of factual evidence to contradict your assertions.
- Exploit repetition
- Repeat your Although questions aren't actually
accusations, and therefore need no
evidence, they can nevertheless
have the effect of accusationsquestions about Tom, your assertions about his past, and your praise for his competitors at every opportunity. People need frequent reminding and re-enforcement before they can truly internalize your misrepresentations. - Craft a memorable slur
- Build a tight connection between the idea of Tom and reasons for distrusting him. A crisp, short slur that captures one or more of Tom's supposed negative attributes makes your campaign "sticky."
- Elevate the tempo
- Rapid execution of multiple techniques tends to overload Tom's ability to respond with defensive tactics. High tempo also saturates the audience's ability to process your charges and Tom's defenses. After all, everyone does have other things to do.
Most important, limit the effectiveness of Tom's defenses by refuting them in advance. Accuse him of harboring ill will towards you, and characterize his responses as evidence of his vengefulness and defensiveness. That should finish him off. Trust me. 
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See "When Over-Delivering Makes Trouble," Point Lookout for December 5, 2012, for an additional behavior that erodes trust.
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Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
Extrasensory Deception: II- In negotiating agreements, the partners who do the drafting have an ethical obligation not to exploit
the advantages of the drafting role. Some drafters don't meet that standard.
Inappropriate Levels of Regard- The regard we have for others as people is sometimes influenced by the regard we have for the work they
do. Confusing the two is a dangerous error.
Bottlenecks: I- Some people take on so much work that they become "bottlenecks." The people around them repeatedly
find themselves stuck, awaiting responses or decisions. Why does this happen and what are the costs?
I Don't Understand: I- When someone makes a statement or offers an explanation that's unclear or ambiguous, there are risks
associated with asking for clarification. The risks can seem so terrifying that we decide not to ask.
What keeps us from seeking clarification?
Multi-Expert Consensus- Some working groups consist of experts from many fields. When they must reach a decision by consensus,
members have several options. Defining those options in advance can help the group reach a decision
with all its relationships intact.
See also Workplace Politics and Conflict Management for more related articles.
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And on June 21: Asking Burning Questions- When we suddenly realize that an important question needs answering, directly asking that question in a meeting might not be an effective way to focus the attention of the group. There are risks. Fortunately, there are also ways to manage those risks. Available here and by RSS on June 21.
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My blog, Technical Debt for Policymakers, offers
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technical debt within their organizations. Get the millstone of technical debt off the neck of your
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- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group
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