Egos in the Mist. Welcome to Mortal Kombat! 🥷

Nuri the engineer here, ready for battle. 🤓

After a few decades working in teams, I've observed a few common adversaries materialize in the absence of leadership. These characters lurk in the mist of ignorance, fear, and stress—ready to fight against collaboration. It's time to arm ourselves with intellect and integrity to conquer dysfunction.

💡"The root cause of wrongdoing is ignorance." — 'Abdu'l-Bahá

In the arena, leaders shape culture for collaboration. The strongest leaders ensure voices are heard, biases are confronted (including their own), and space is created to build strength from conflict.

Here’s how to defend and conquer common collaboration adversaries emerging from the mist:

1️⃣ 🙂 THE SMILING OFFENDER: Uses micro-aggressions to mask insecurity, lack of belonging, and fear. If confronted, they claim overreaction, hide behind humor, or skillfully deflect.

🔥 Combat Tip: Shola Richards wisely tells us in Civil Unity to ask: "What do you mean by that?" - a six-word mirror shield forcing self-reflection. This causes the offender to think (their kryptonite) and explain. Follow up with logic or a request for respect.

2️⃣ 🤩 THE HIERARCHY GLAZER: Follows you on social media and knows your personal life better than you do—strategically or subconsciously, to gain favor. They joyfully feed your ego and can name-drop anyone, but you won’t like how they divide your team. Watch out—they often morph into a REPHRASER. They unapologetically repeat the most impactful comments and with their charisma, others will applaud their stolen idea.

🔥 Combat Tip: Know your team! When comments are made, redirect attention to other team members, which helps build connections. This instantly depletes power from this adversary. And if the REPHRASER emerges, thank them for summarizing a colleague's brilliant idea.

3️⃣ 🤨 THE ONCE AND DONE: Asks surface-level questions, avoids deeper inquiry, and gives up at the first obstacle. This character ironically develops in one of the brightest people. Remember common sense often remains uncommon. Their responses to questions resemble: "I asked, they said they couldn't." Unchecked, they morph into a LAZY NAYSAYER, never stepping into the arena.

🔥 Combat Tip: TED (Tell - Explain - Describe) Homework. For example, ask them to tell you the process steps, explain improvement areas, and describe proposed solutions. They can summarize what must be true for success, identify the top 3 actions to improve, and determine how best to track.

If you’ve never encountered these collaboration adversaries, you’re either incredibly lucky, blinded by the mist, or not Mortal.

Arm yourself with these Golden Trifecta Combat Tips to conquer dysfunction. Upfront standards of respect, candor, and accountability are your best defense.

Own mistakes. Learn relentlessly. Improve continuously! 🚀

Battle now to lead your team to FLAWLESS VICTORY! 🏆🔥🥷🏽

© Nuri Dimler 2025