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What do you call it when an event or organisation becomes all about its leader?

7 replies

Yoghurtflavours · 18/04/2019 13:57

I used to go to an event which I originally enjoyed, but after a while it became about the woman running it. Her name became almost as well known as the event itself and she'd post loads of stuff on their social media about how her project had grown etc. It all became very egotistical and cliquey.

Is there a term for when this sort of thing happens?

A more famous example I thought of was Wikileaks, where Julian Assange has become more famous than the website itself.

I looked up Cult of Personality but this seems to be used for dictators so it's not quite what I'm looking for.

OP posts:
Grumpbum123 · 18/04/2019 13:58

I’d say a cult

Yoghurtflavours · 18/04/2019 14:00

There are cult-like aspects to it and they have cult-like followings, but I still don't think it's what I'm looking for.

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bookworm14 · 18/04/2019 14:11

Founder Syndrome. Very common in charities/NGOs. See Kids Company as an example.

jenthelibrarian · 18/04/2019 14:16

I had some issues [I think I'll use that as a polite term] with a small charity and its leader and a friend who deals with this sort of thing all the time as a consultant to small organisations told me:
'What you have there is a MONGO! 'My Own Non-Governmental Organisation'
In other words: I founded this, I run it, it's all mine, mine, me, me me...Smile

Yoghurtflavours · 18/04/2019 14:33

@bookworm14

Yes, Camilla Batmanghelidjh is definitely one of those!

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bookworm14 · 18/04/2019 15:14

Haha Jenthelibrarian - I have definitely encountered MONGOs before!

Yoghurtflavours · 21/04/2019 08:41

Bump

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