Self-castration was such a popular path to a high-flying advisory career in China’s imperial court that the Ming dynasty ended up having to employ lots of eunuchs it could not afford.
Plenty of deputies, sidekicks, fixers and henchpeople have had to endure accusations that they do not have the balls for the top job. But Richard Hytner, whose book Consiglieri contains this striking historical aside, wants to rehabilitate the influencers in the back rooms and corridors of power.
The seconds-in-command, team coaches and assistants he interviews all seem oddly happy with their place in the shadow of limelight-seeking chief executives and team captains. Suspicion about the motives of those who choose the role of consigliere is normal, the author told me. When he chose to exchange a big executive leadership role at Saatchi & Saatchi for a job as deputy chairman, with no direct reports, half his colleagues at the advertising agency wondered if he was just waiting for his moment to become a chief executive. The other half assumed he was not up to the task.