On the Downfall of Walter White
I was talking to a friend of mine recently about some of my all-time favorite television shows and (I think many would agree with me, but) I made the bold claim that I think Breaking Bad is probably the best drama TV series ever made. At the very least, one factual claim is that in its final season, each episode released commanded some of television history’s largest live audiences and live online conversation in a way that no show I know of has been able to do since. It ran with the ilk of other greats like The Sopranos, Grey’s Anatomy, and Game of Thrones, all revolutionary for their time, leaving an enduring impression with fans, and a gaping hole in primetime entertainment. It got me thinking about what made this one so special.
Breaking Bad tells the story of the proverbial rags to riches underdog from a lens many of us understand and identify with: a guy just trying to get by in his very average life. Because we can all sympathize with a man recently diagnosed with cancer and who just wants to provide for his family, we begin from the framework that Walter White is an unsung hero. In other words, as an audience, we need him to win.
High-stakes drama ensues. A man who started with a belief that he has limited time to make a miracle happen picks up a derelict sidekick, villainizes his loving wife, builds a lethal empire, and essentially destroys whatever is in his path. He technically accomplishes his original goal, but to call it a Pyrrhic victory approaches understatement. Having everything costs everything… not to mention everyone. We nonetheless root for him, a true anti-hero, almost the whole way through. How did we get here?
That question brings me back to the reason the show is so special: it’s a believable, compelling narrative around attainment of the self-empowerment we all secretly crave. Publicly, we’re told it’s crass to want more than we have. To stand up for ourselves boldly. To ruthlessly pursue passion and excellence. When Walt is able to scale, we feel like we all share in his win. He had a fulfilling run on top achieving things bigger than he could have ever comprehended in the beginning. His journey was unbelievably self-affirming; until the end, of course, but my point is we don’t frame Walt as the villain (even though he objectively is one).
Unlike TV though, in real life, we live inside the narrative instead of alongside it. We make decisions based on the knowledge we have in real time and how it affects us. We certainly don’t empathize with the villains in our story. This is especially true at work. I want to speak to leaders facing adversity who may be in the midst of a Walt-like arc, as I think it’s inevitable at some point or another in every leadership journey.
Here are 5 important lessons:
LESSON 1: “I have to” becoming “I want to”.
Walter is brilliant, underpaid, and overlooked. He believes that in receiving a terminal diagnosis, he’s being robbed of the life he could have had. He learns that making meth is profitable and determines that if he could do enough business in the limited time he has left, he could reasonably provide financially for his family’s future. Good reason, bad plan, noble justification.
As it turns out, Blue Sky is a popular product, and he ends up with more than enough wealth. More than could be justified. So why does he continue? Though unacknowledged, his overnight success shifted his internal narrative toward recognition, control, respect, and proof that he was exceptional.
One of the most gratifying scenes in the entire show is when Walter speaks to his estranged wife, Skyler, after years of the deluded argument that all of his distasteful pursuits were for the good of his family, and admits: “I did it for me.”
Leaders need to periodically ask whether the mission they’re pursuing is still the mission they started with.
LESSON 2: Ambition, self-deception, and “insignificance”.
Walter’s family isn’t really poor, he’s just humiliated by being ordinary. His former colleagues (allegedly) cheated him out of a business that went on to see enormous success, and he ends up teaching chemistry to high schoolers. His resentment is a driving force that we don’t realize or reckon with until a confrontation between himself and his previous business partner/girlfriend later in the series. He accuses her of stealing his idea (and by proxy, his money) and she reveals that his abandonment of her (and therefore their great business idea) on a family vacation was unexplained, unresolved, and of his own accord.
He has internalized and warped his version to the point of forcing the world to acknowledge his greatness at all costs. I don’t think he ever considered the impact he could have had on his students’ lives by pouring into them, and even if he did, it was no match in terms of value because he was after recognition. He was never in the game for the good of others.
The difference between healthy ambition and wounded ego produces very different leaders.
LESSON 3: The danger of being indispensable.
Walter took Jesse Pinkman on as a “man of the streets”, so to speak, and treated him terribly at first. Jesse was uneducated, unreliable, and a liability, but he was the link between the product and the money. Over time however, formed by his unlikely mentor, he became an equal partner when Walt considered a longer game. Walt needed Jesse in the beginning, but ultimately made sure that Jesse couldn’t function without him in return.
By increasing Jesse’s need for Walter’s guidance, approval, and direction, it effectively stunts Jesse’s ability to act autonomously. Walt planned and manipulated that.
Given increasing layoffs over time, we’re also increasingly being advised to make ourselves so useful to our company they couldn’t possibly think of letting us go. Leaders sometimes find value in building a mental framework that affirms that their organization couldn’t run without them. It feels like job security. Newsflash: it can, and will.
Leaders who manage a team that can’t function without them haven’t built a strong team, just a dynamic of dependency. Reconsider your legacy.
LESSON 4: Confusing control for leadership.
Walt becomes increasingly convinced that maintaining control is necessary because he “understands the stakes”. He’s often right, which is part of what makes him such a fascinating case study. He IS strategically capable, he DOES see threats that other people don’t see, and he DOES make decisions that sometimes save everyone. That being said, being right doesn’t make someone a good leader.
Every time you’re right about something, you subconsciously reinforce your own independent expertise. You become more difficult to criticize. I’ve written about the difference between competence and confidence here, but Walter’s competence offers him arrogance. His “confidence” makes him reluctant to trust others, and his reluctance to trust others causes him to centralize power. Centralized power isolates him from dissent. Once nobody around him can challenge him, his worst instincts go unchecked.
Leaders should guard themselves against the “ivory tower”, and remain open to feedback that could challenge and grow them. If you’re difficult to engage with due to perceived superiority, that alone may be your downfall, and this is especially true if you see disagreement as betrayal.
LESSON 5: The value of people telling you “no”.
Skyler somehow became the person the audience loved to hate. The first time through the show, it’s totally reasonable. She’s standing in our boy’s way! How dare she! You only look back at the trail of destruction in hindsight.
The second time through, you see that she’s completely justified in her concerns, her challenges, and her outbursts. If I were Walt’s wife I’d have acted, said, and done the same. While she eventually finds her way to support him, it is undeniably out of duress and a naive belief that Walt is, of course, acting out of concern for her and their kids (and with great success).
Imagine what Walt might have gone through if Skyler HADN’T been looking out for him. She was instrumental throughout his trajectory whether she meant to be or not.
We need people who can say things like, “you’re wrong,” “this isn’t necessary,” “you’re taking this personally,” “this decision is about your ego,” and, “you need to take a step back.” You have to reward those people rather than punish them. Without it, sometimes you just end up walking out of the frying pan and into the fire. The best people on your team aren’t necessarily the people who make you feel like a great leader, but the people who make it difficult to become a bad one.
Leaders need people who can tell them the truth and who can confront them safely when they’re concerned.
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No one person, or one leader, becomes the bad guy overnight. It happens over time, a series of small decisions that compound when every crossed line makes it easier to cross the next. We rooted for Walt because we understood his reasons even when we could no longer condone his actions. We must keep in mind that the greatest protection against becoming a villain in our own story isn’t ambition, intelligence, or even good intentions, but the humility to recognize when we’re in it for ourselves, and the willingness to listen to those around us that are brave enough to say when we’ve gone too far.