Opinion

Why being close to the boss will (eventually) backfire

Those in the corporate world, who boast of being friends with the boss, are a protected species, allowed to get away with murder – until they aren’t.

Pilita ClarkColumnist

Updated Mar 16, 2026 – 8.08am, first published at 7.52am

When US President Donald Trump turns for advice on his war in Iran, it is sobering to consider who he finds.

There is his golfing friend, Steve Witkoff, the spectacularly unqualified property developer who is Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East.

Financial Times

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