ABSTRACT
Tammy Noel hypothesizes that the board members, including herself, were locked into a pattern of competition, corruption and collusion, driven by a desire to stay close to the director, who held the power. She defines this pattern as a holy trinity of unhelpful unconscious behaviours that the board members were unable to control or change. A strong connection existed between competition, corruption and collusion in the board in order to stay close to the director, which kept the informal board hierarchy intact. The director was a source of power; able to ‘make or break’ individuals and therefore worthy of impressing. The board members were gripped by a desire to please the director and in so doing, handed power to the director and consequently, board members were content to collude with each other in order to avoid conflict. This chapter describes how competition, corruption and collusion present themselves in a group and how they are used to reinforce the power dynamic.
