05/11/2019
The Almighty Ego
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The biggest challenge, as in number ONE, facing “leaders” and would-be “leaders” is:
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the management of their own perceptions.
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Because perceptions are not really understood but they can FEEL very real, few question their own perceptions. They literally believe that what they perceive, intensified by their feelings, is both accurate and valuable.
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What happens, as a result of such a belief, is that ‘leaders’ subsequently project their perceptions (judgments) upon others. In so doing, ’leaders’ unwittingly tie their perceptions to their identities thereby spawning a seemingly whole new set of problems. But, there is and remains ONLY ONE actual problem here: the leader’s willingness to believe that something temporary and malleable (perceptions) can somehow magically transmute to something eternal and immutable.
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When one projects their judgments upon another person, they are essentially telling the other person how that other person feels. And such an act might be the lowest expression of plum stupidity. To the other person, the response is a feeling of being misunderstood. How many people enjoy being misunderstood? Do you enjoy being misunderstood? If you want people to understand you, STOP misunderstanding them.
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To the leader projecting their judgment, misunderstanding, it is catastrophic because
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(1) it announces their lack of mental discipline (a high-risk and highly dangerous mental trait),
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(2) it naturally alienates the target of their misunderstanding and actively challenges any previously held trust or confidence, and
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(3) it means that the leader has placed their own mind in a defensive spin - in attempt and re-attempt to justify their rogue judgments.
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Can you respect such a leader?
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BUT, what if a “leader” is willing to question their formerly unquestionable perception - their formerly unquestionable judgment of another person, group of people, or an entire scene?
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Well, then, there is a hope, however, what need accompany the willingness to challenge the veracity of one ego’s statements about how someone is or is not, about what is real and what is not, is an understanding of how ego traps and made and set.
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First, one must firmly understand this one idea: the ONLY way one can see another as ego-oriented, ego-focused, or ego-maniacal is through one’s own unchecked ego lens. But this is good, not bad news. If one is seeing unruly egos in one’s scene, think of it as a wake-up call to get one’s own ego out of the forefront of one’s mind.
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What is the ego?
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The ego is the idea that something can happen to you without your permission. I’m going to stop here because this last thought, for most, might be incomprehensible but, it might also be enough to effectively rattle one’s mental cage, and that’s a start. Egos can clash, but higher minds naturally bond under a recognizably unified objective.
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The human mind is abstract. It does not belong in a cage. We transform organizations by teaching leaders to recognize the difference between ego-based reasoning, which is always limited, cacophonous and destructive, and that of the higher mind - which is unlimited, quiet and creative. Thanks for reading.
