Beware the Doppelganger -- Part 2

So, were you able to figure out which of our testosterone types qualifies for their very own Spotlight Sparky ...  the one and only Sparky who feeds on glory and is always looking for that stage. He can’t resist the opportunity to be visible … likes bees to honey ... and if you guessed Hi Test Tom (probably the more obvious) and Super Sales Sam (the more pitiful) you would be right. 

I will say that Hi Test Tom’s doppelganger is a bit more subtle and discriminating with his spotlight. He seeks to command larger audiences and simply expects that the audience is enthralled with his oration and appreciative of his time spend with them. He’s not trying to win the audience over or secure their buy-in but rather expects it by virtue of his reputation or position.  His stage is found at Town Hall meetings, Executive Board Reviews, corporate priority setting boards, large project steering committee, City Hall Board meetings, Wall Street Analyst presentations and the like. These venues usually come with a spotlight akin to those three rotating spotlights that car dealer’s use and jettison beams high into the night. When he speaks, he seldom uses the ‘I’ pronoun unless someone asks specifically for his opinion. This is clearly in keeping with all the other characteristics of a Hi Test Tom.

Super Sales Sam’s doppelganger is a bit more pathetic.  His Sparky will use almost anywhere or anything for his stage.  And if he can’t find one, he’ll construct one.  He’ll use his boss’s staff meeting to showcase all the project work his team has completed and what he personally has brought to the organization.  He’ll hijack a project meeting to show off his knowledge of technology using unnecessary terms and concepts that clearly float way above everyone else’s head. He’ll take a training course that he is teaching and turn it into the Spotlight Sparky show. He’ll only share his ideas in a peer forum or large group so he can be sure that no one passes his idea off as theirs. Heaven forbid he not get the credit for his idea. His use of the pronoun ‘I’ would elevate it past pronoun and nounto a verb. He is generally pleading ‘look at me,’ ‘listen to me,’ ‘how good am I?’  He is always showing off those personal performance points that you’ll read about in a subsequent post. His spotlight could be a dimly lit bulb on the verge of burnout and he’ll take it. It is just sad but again in keeping with those other attributes of Super Sales Sam.  
There are areas of commonality that these doppelgangers do share. They all love to hear themselves talk. It could be quite amusing if it wasn’t so annoying to watch a testosterone peer sit back and glowingly admire his Spotlight Sparky doppelganger standing on the conference room table in a staff meeting, eloquently delivering his soliloquy of achievements and ideas. Too bad Silky Simon doesn’t have a Spotlight Sparky … at least then we’d have something good to look at. Another similarity is how they all love to have questions asked of them. They do not like, however, to have their answers, positions, and comments questioned. And finally, all Spotlight Sparkys particularly relish being ‘Sparky to the rescue’ and will bask forever … or so it seems … in the glory of a ‘Sparky saves the day!’           


So what should an estrogen colleague or minion do when faced with Tom or Sam’s alter ego Sparky?  The answer coming in my final post on this subject.