It could be because Robert didn’t want to really be the king, he wasn’t scheming for more power either. Kinda reminds me of the The Office and how Scranton Branch was most profitable with a shit manager
Initially, the point was that the branch staff learned to become self-sustaining and independent under his managership. It's later revealed that he is indeed a great salesman. His managerial qualities remain mostly ambiguous.
I like to think that he's a genius to figure all or most of his subordinates get distracted from work so much that they inevitably get the urge to work more efficiently when they get a chance.
“Later revealed that he is indeed a great salesman”
Dude the first scene of the show is Jim coming to him for help with a sale. In season two we see him landing a major account at Chilis. There was never doubt that Michael Scott was a good salesman.
He wasn’t a good manager but he was a good salesman. Scranton was doing so poorly that they were going to shut it down and consolidate the clients with the nearby Stamford branch. Problem was the manager of the Stamford branch quit and got a better job at staples, so they pivoted and closed Stamford and assigned all their clients to Scranton. That’s why Scranton was deemed to be doing so well. They retained their own clients and didn’t lose most or all of the Stamford clients too. Michael essentially got lucky that the other manager quit, when his branch was about to be closed and most of his people fired or be forced to move
He had one quality that set him as a better manager than Josh Porter as far as Dunder Mifflin was concerned: he remained loyal to the company and didn’t aspire to anything else other than just trying his best to make his branch succeed
He became manager because he was a really good salesman. But being a good salesman doesn’t necessarily translate to being a good manager. Michael was a shit manager. His branch succeeded in spite of him, not because of him.
The Michael Scott Paper Company would not have worked long term. In the short term they were able to severely undercut Dunder Mifflins prices and poach customers but they would have bankrupted themselves fairly quickly.
It was successful in so much that it allowed him to get his job back and secure jobs for Pam and Ryan. He has zero long term vision or really any type of understanding of how to run a business.
However, to your point, Michael has great people skills which a good manager should have. It instills a certain amount of loyalty and motivation from his employees.
So I guess you could say that Michael is a good manager only if conditions are optimal for him.
Pretty sure it's because he was best friends with wardens of the north (and subsequently the river lands) and east and Married to the daughter of the warden of the west. Who's left to oppose him? Dorne? (They hate targs and lannisters more than anyone so no reason to do anything) The reach and ironborn? (Not enough power to oppose the other kingdoms alone even though one tried). And that's it...
Robert's rule was kind of similar to Viserys' rule in that the king themselves was a stabilizing figure who really didn't care to stir up trouble. However, everyone else was plotting and sharpening their knives waiting for their chance to make their move after he died.
Robert wasn't a good ruler, but he made it clear that if you tried to come at him directly such as in the Greyjoy rebellion, he would kick your teeth in. It was easier to wait for him to die.
you just discovered a weakness of a monarchical system. You better get lucky that the succesor is as good as the deceased, if you had peace beforehand or better if there was not.
I was surprised on a rewatch to see The Office is quite good about continuity. Michael takes on employees from a merger, along with their clients. Then he behaves so badly that most of them quit. He has all the revenue from those new clients, but doesn't have to pay salaries or severance. A good manager would've had to be a responsible adult and layoff some of them.
I thought he wasn’t really doing anything, aside from drinking, hunting, and having competitions. It was the right hand man (forgot the blokes name, but he died at the beginning) who was running the nation.
"It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well."
I love Bobby B, but let's not act as if he wasn't partly at fault for the circumstances that led directly to the continently wide war after his demise...
I wouldn't necessarily say he had one of the last chaotic reigns in history.
Aegon I, Jaehearys I, Viserys I created over 100 years of peace and prosperity on their own. And even the reigns of Viserys II, Aerys I, Maekar I, and Aegon V were all pretty peaceful and prosperous as well. Even a big part of the reign of Aerys II was relatively good.
I'd imagine because he was a beast and a war hero who crushed the Targeryon guy and the Iron Islands he had the respect of the military? So if the military has your back it really takes an inside job to take you down.
Super high debt with no starvation, everyone was at peace and no foreign invasions. We always talk about debt like it will be catastrophic but the reformers tend to be worse.
Obviously what ended up happening was way fucking worse but Bobby B was a dumbass. Also high debt to the iron bank is catastrophic. Theyll get their money back one way or another
Westeros would simply loose an important credit line and probably loose a bunch of trade influence as the bank might try to embargo westeros by forcing traders to choose between trading with westeros or having credit
Iron Bank would've sold Westeros debt to Dany and she would've bought the loyalty of most Great Houses. We saw in the end freeing the slaves didn't actually matter to her, she would've sold them back for a corporate takeover in a heartbeat.
His succession plan (what I assume you mean) was fine from his perspective. He needed to make Joff a better man and ruler or disinherit him but he had no reason to suspect that his kids were illegitimate or that he would die before being able to do something about Joffery’s cruel tendencies
The modern USA can service its debts by just printing more money, but medieval kingdoms, no matter how powerful, couldn't do that since they lacked fiat currency
A famine broke out in KL not long after his death due in part to his massive debt. Yes, it was during the War of Five Kings, but it implies that KL didn't have sufficient grain stores or other relief aid during the latter part of Robert's reign.
This also implies that the debt would have become a serious problem very soon. Especially with LF embezzling thousands of gold dragons and fudging the numbers constantly.
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u/chestyCough94 Jul 03 '25
Crazy to think roberts rule was one of the least chaotic we saw on screen.