If you haven’t watched The Morning Show on Apple TV, let me set the stage of the first episode or two for you. Jennifer Aniston plays a TV anchor on a morning news show. Her co-anchor, played by Steve Carell, has just been fired for sexual misconduct. Her contract is under renegotiations and several people at the network consider her “stale” and want her gone. To many, it would be assumed her back was against the wall and she was in a losing position. This was definitely the stance of her attorney as they continued pushing for her to get co-anchor approval written into her contract before signing, so she could have a say in whomever was hired to replace Steve Carell’s character. Cue the mic drop moment when she’s accepting an award at a big dinner (one she was informed minutes before that the network had paid for her to get just for publicity sake), and she takes the situation into her own hands by announcing a new female co-anchor…publicly, in a room with a lot of press. Someone she had just met who was untested, and arguably not even qualified.
So why were my husband and I both staring at the TV, jaws hanging, going “oh no, she didn’t!”? Because of our own beliefs around what people should and should not do in business, we never expected that she would trump the system in such an extreme way. It made me realize how much we’ve been raised in a culture and society where hierarchy in business rules the day and everyone else gives their power away to that system.
At that moment, Jennifer Aniston’s character made the decision that she was in charge of her own agency. She wanted co-anchor approval and she wasn’t getting it from the network executives, so she created a situation where she had it without asking for permission. This is an extreme example and I’m not telling you to risk your career with some bold move and hope that things work out. What I am suggesting is that any time you feel powerless to the system you are working in, it’s time to explore your own beliefs and change the narrative.
Here are some questions to ask yourself when feeling powerless at work:
What is the challenge for me here?
What are the actual facts of this situation?
(no adjectives of descriptors, just focus on what can be proven)
What do you think it means about you?
What emotions does it bring up for you?
What would society, your family upbringing, workplace culture, the media, and people of influence in your life have you think about this particular issue and how you should respond? Choosing intentionally, do you agree?
What would your personal values have you think about this particular issue and how you should respond? Choosing intentionally, do you agree?
What are alternative ways you could think about this challenge and your situation?
How can this situation provide an opportunity for you to grow?
What is something you’ve learned about yourself in this situation?
What beliefs would you like to dismiss as a result of this situation?
What beliefs would you like to adopt as a result of this situation?
While The Morning Show doesn’t go into the mental transformation of Jennifer Aniston’s character, you can imagine the thought process she went through to get to her announcement. Workplace culture and society would say that she was powerless in this situation. The network executives make the decisions, there is small room for negotiation and that’s it. She found value in the chemistry of the co-anchor relationship and saw the role as a member of her family. When viewing alternatives, she likely saw the public forum as a way to take back her control of the situation, making it awkward if the network executives were to back out. The system would have had her believe that her preferences and needs were less important than the desires of the network. Instead, she chose to see her worth to the show and her relationship with the audience. The person she named as a co-anchor was someone very different from her and also female which disrupted the stereotypical formatting of a male and female co-anchor relationship. It was someone who refused to conform and spoke boldly from a place of her own truth. This was someone who would push and challenge Jennifer Aniston’s character. No longer could she be complacent, this situation would call for her to grow.
The key point here is that the power of the hierarchy and structures at work is all created in the minds of those who work there. The decision about where your needs fall within that system and the level of importance in comparison to others is entirely yours.