Benifer. Brangelina. You know- those made up names that combine the first name of one person in a couple with the first name of the other one. Some marketing person somewhere decided these were cute and fit well on the cover of People or something.
What is Bromance?
Are those made-up names silly? Sure. Yet I can’t think of a better title for this Cowardly Leadership post than Bromance Leadership. In case you don’t know, a bromance is a romance between two males. “Bro’s” (brothers), and “mance” = bromance. This is not a romance in the traditional sense, but rather is a close relationship where one person is rarely seen without the other-where one goes, the other follows. In some cases, one “bro” simply rubber stamp approves whatever the other does. You see this a lot with hangers-on of celebrities and athletes, i.e. the “entourage.” In short, bromance is not a term of endearment!
Elected officials, just because they are elected, do not, and should not, eliminate friendships and relationships after the election. I wouldn’t want to do that, and who would run for office if the voters said, “You can’t have any friends during your term?”
However, there are friendships, and there are bromances. And just like actors and athletes, elected officials can have a bromance.
Bromance Leadership Types
There are two Bromance Leadership types:
- Elected officials who develop or nurture a platonic, close relationship with a member or members of senior staff. Examples would be: A School Board member with the School Superintendent or perhaps Principal; or a County Commissioner with the County Manager; or a Park District Board member with the Parks Superintendent;
- When two, sometimes more, elected officials evolve into a bromance among themselves. They are almost always together. They are referred to by citizens as a tandem or trio (usually with much more descriptive names than that!)- “there goes X and Y again…never see them apart…”
It almost goes without saying that one bro would never vote contrary to the way his bro votes!
We should assume our elected officials act fairly and impartially toward a senior staff member that they supervise. We should assume any and all employees will be held accountable. We should assume the members we have elected are independent thinkers and can function independently of one another. I’ve worked in organizations where favoritism was apparent from City Council members toward members of the senior staff. And, to be completely transparent, I’ve been on both sides of that.
I was fortunate in one situation where, as a Director, both the Mayor and Vice Mayor were personal friends of mine and both were very pro parks, greenspace, preservation, etc. It made for a great situation for me for a few years. There was no direct supervision, and no ethical lines were crossed, but I suspect other Directors wondered how impartial and transparent things were.
Now Who Exactly Did I Vote For?
A previous post ( http://cowardlyleadership.com/fool-who-follows/ ) discussed the Fool who Follows. This is the flip side of that coin. Now we are exploring the fool who voluntarily relinquishes his authority, who allows staff to have unchecked influence, and/or subjugates his opinion to his “bro.”
When a bromance takes place between two or more members of an elected body, the following happens:
- Voters (at least the ones who care) do not know what the elected officials stand for if, on every vote, the “bros” are always on the same side;
- When bromance leadership occurs between the chief elected official, such as a Mayor, and another elected official such as a council member, or, the Chairman of the School Board and another Board member, authority is diluted and the chief elected official is abdicating his/her duties;
- Voters have the right to say, “I voted for tweedle-dee, not tweedle-dum, but what’s the difference?”
The result is Bromance Leadership.
II-2
