You Can't Make a Tomelette without Breaking Some Greggs

Introduction HBR on Succession

What We Have to Say about the Show’s Portrayal of (Toxic) Leadership

by Amy Gallo

When I sit down to watch Succession, I know I’m signing up for a nonstop cringe festival.

I cringe at the obscene wealth and privilege, the backstabby office politics, the despicable ways the Roys treat one another, and the vengeful leadership decisions. But I’ll admit I do so gleefully. Part of the show’s brilliance is how its creators make us deeply uncomfortable while keeping us rapt. Of course, I know it’s fiction–and that family businesses don’t really operate this way (or so I hope!). Still, I can’t help but wince at the Roys’ ability to keep harming each other, and those around them, in new ways.

In my book Getting Along: ...