You Can’t Make a Tomelette Without Breaking Some Greggs: Toxic Management Lessons from Succession (and What to Do Instead)

HBR’s Antidote to the Logan Roy School of Toxic Leadership

For four unforgettable seasons, Succession has riveted viewers inside and outside the business world. Too absurd to be true, too real to truly be fiction, corporate patriarch Logan Roy, his feuding children, and the executives of Waystar Royco have kept us rapt. Every week the show has dominated office chatter and flooded Slack channels with expletive-laden memes, quotes, and insults.

But does the series offer any insights of real-world value to leaders or organizations? Can the psychological power dynamics, nine-figure negotiation tactics, and intricate M&A maneuvers actually teach us something about succeeding in business? Definitely: whatever the Roys do, do the exact opposite.

＂You Can’t Make a Tomelette without Breaking Some Greggs＂ Toxic Management Lessons from Succession (and What to Do Instead) pairs advice from HBR experts and researchers with some of the most unforgettable, hilarious, and cringey moments from the show. Featuring an introduction by workplace relationship expert Amy Gallo, author of Getting Along and the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict, you’ll learn about:

• Giving pep talks that inspire (no f-bombs needed)
• Holding offsites that work (tip: don’t play Boar on the Floor)
• Avoiding jargon and bizspeak (when the boss asks you to just feed him metadata)
• Leading with trust (what’s Kendall’s ＂wobble＂?)
• And even improving succession planning (beyond never relinquishing control)

Succession has served up a billion-dollar buffet of bad business examples we can’t look away from. Whether you’re a superfan; you’re dealing with a Kendall, Shiv, Roman, or Tom in your own life; or you’re just curious about the buzz, ＂You Can’t Make a Tomelette without Breaking Some Greggs＂ is HBR’s spoiler-filled, occasionally profane final watch party for an iconic series.

Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, 12 international licensed editions, books from Harvard Business Review Press, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review provides professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact.

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Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review. She is the author of the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict and a cohost of HBR’s Women at Work podcast. Her articles have been collected in dozens of books on emotional intelligence, giving and receiving feedback, time management, and leadership. As a sought-after speaker and facilitator, Gallo has helped thousands of leaders deal with conflict more effectively and navigate complicated workplace dynamics. She is a graduate of Yale University and holds a master’s from Brown University.

Connect with Amy Gallo at amyegallo.com