The “Expert-Killer-Syndrome” is spreading
through the White House. No member of the
government, neither the President’s Chief of Staff nor his spokesman can be
sure to remain in office for the duration of the President’s mandate. This has
always been the case. Still, the current inflationary staff turnover in the
White House is fairly new. These dizzying turbulences may be due to the fact,
that the successful real estate agent and television presenter Donald Trump, who is for the moment
President of the United States and Commander in Chief of their armed
forces, has no previous theoretical or practical experiences in the modes and
arts of diplomacy, administration, and warfare. He relies on a great number of
absolutely loyal and competent experts – but he replaces these experts ongoing.
The President praises the dismissed consultants as well as the recruited ones
in public, and on this occasion gladly welcomes their homages to him. Not long
and the President starts eyeing them, and they start spying each other. It
seems as if they do not work together but walk around each other – professionally.
Dieter Beck (1935-1980) was
the first to describe systematically the dynamics of this process which he
called the “Expert-Killer-Syndrome” (1977). The “Expert-Killer-Syndrome” (or “Koryphäen-Killer-Syndrom” in German
language usage) is defined by the decay of a trustworthy relationship among
guidance-seekers and consultants. The person seeking advice at first and for a
short period idealizes the consultant. The relationship shatters as soon as the
consultant does not meet all of their expectations. Then the consultant is
fired. According to Beck, in the
guidance-seeker’s view professionals like medical experts, hospital directors
and professors lose their reputation immediately and entirely after he
considered their performance as a failure.
The “Expert-Killer-Syndrome” proliferates in public space, but it is not an infectious disease. Like with the frustrating contact with “professional patients” who are the horror of all medical doctors, the relationship ends because of their enhanced claims and a variety of discomforts nobody can remedy. The exalted behavior of the guidance-seekers is not the result of individual disease, for as in this case it could probably be cured. Rather the “Expert-Killer-Syndrome” is rooted in an irreparable interpersonal relationship. The consultants are left at a loss, and the guidance-seeker remains in cluelessness, ongoing. There is a consulting-crisis in the White House, anyone can see. It might resolve itself due to the decrease of expertise in all respects.
Karl F. Masuhr