Castingshows and colorful Smarties
A lot of exhibition. Generally, all over the place. And it will rather not get less in times of social media and the sale by auction of self esteem to a global selfie public. Casting shows around the clock, we look for the superstar, the super talent, the top model, farmer looking for wife (why isn’t it „the superwife“, anyway?), bachelor looking for anything, entrepreneur looking for investor – people cue to expose themselves in a completely uninhibited way before an audience of millions, and the media seems to think that all this should somehow concern us.
Investor looking for absurdely high return, employee looking for sense...no, that’s something else.
How about business life? Take meetings, for example: in their classic form they are completely unsuitable for a suprisingly large range of things, but they are surely a wonderful platform to show oneself. First a subject is opened, then the discussion, and in the very same milisecond, the brilliance casting goes off: who’s got the crispiest rethoric? Who’s got the best idea? Who will assert himself? Profiling is often as important as the factual contribution.
...and in no time the room is filled with colorful Smarties. Well, if they were colorful at least – in most cases they are grey or black or, in the best case, dark blue. Mold-grey Smarties? I don’t know...
Have you ever heard a chair of a meeting say the following?: „We all have proven our competence sufficiently by our eligibility for this meeting, as incompetent employees are not invited. The detailed rankings in this respect are completely irrelevant, so let’s close the book on this. Now to our real task: we have heard about the topic. I suggest that we remain silent for five minutes. During this time, everyone thinks about the topic, then we will start the discussion.“ Couldn’t it be worth a try?
Will things really change – as trend scouts tend to predict – with generation Y growing into executive positions, and with all those cool and uncomplicated startups of this generation? On the one hand, they care much less about hierarchy, which suggests that power struggles might get less, on the other hand they care so unbelievably about what others think of them that this may open the door for a form of pressure that could be at least as malign as the ones we have today. Social systems will not get free of power phenomenons just because their members are digital natives...if the reports from Silicon Valley are true, the average corporate culture there is characterized by misogyny, extreme competition, and pressure without end – this really doesn’t sound like something new...
No matter how good you are: if you want to be successful, you have to get attention first. Plausible, so far. But because the noise level in the air is so high, you have to generate more and more and shriller and shriller row. Problematic enough if the row becomes your ticket to be eligible for the game in the first place. It is worse if the row becomes a substitute criterion for quality and competence. In this environment a Warren-Buffet-strategy could prove to be rewarding: look out for underrated people (this not only sounds terrible, it feels terrible to those concerned) who have something to say, and give them their due place.
Individually this touches on a question of principle that is highly relevant for your own mental health: to whom – if at all – will you allow the right to judge your worth? Shall your worth be under discussion, in the first place? I suggest: no.
