Calling out opportunists for our sake and theirs
Opportunists seek and demand adulation and they are
addicted to power vacuums.
Opportunists do not play by the rules, the norms or
the conventions of the “game”. They operate as narcissistic driven outliers.
Let’s compare Wayne Gretzky’s opportunistic “being where the puck is going to
be before it arrives” completely within the rules and the conventions of the
game of hockey to Trump’s complete disregard of the political traditions, conventions
and even the normal expectations of the constitution.
In their pursuit of power vacuums, they find such
vacuums proliferating. These vacuums take many forms: failure to ‘show up,’
defaulting on legitimate responsibilities, walking away from telling the truth,
especially after declaring “I have serious misgivings,” or merely repressing
oneself whether in a professional or personal relationship. Relationships beset
with power vacuums, because one partner simply defers to other, ultimately
satisfy neither partner. One fails to show up, while the other is left
wondering “where the other one really is”. Spinelessness, regardless of gender,
is one of the more prominent power vacuums. Sometimes too, opportunists do “end-runs”
around the legitimate measurement of their work. . In Atlanta, not that long
ago, teachers in the public school system ‘rigged’ their students’ results on
state-wide tests in order to pad their own resume, falling, finally on the
point of their own sword, once they were “outed”.
While a limited degree of looking out for one’s self
is clearly necessary in a competitive, ‘dog-eat-dog” business world. There is
also competition among those vying for scholarships, bursaries, athletic awards
and sales awards, and for each of these a level of seeking opportunity to
demonstrate one’s talent, ability and proficiency makes sense, provided it does
not do harm directly or indirectly, and certainly not willfully, to another. We
have all heard of doctoral candidates who take months and even years to
research and write their thesis, in the desperate hope that no one, from the
far side of the world completes a clone thesis before they finish. However, to
their best knowledge, neither candidate is usually consciously aware of his/her
“competitor” and cannot be considered opportunistic in finishing first.
Although
opportunists seem to rush to the front of the line, and look like “drivers” and
“full of initiative”, reliable and candidates for leadership, opportunists are
the least appropriate occupants of executive office, where the important
executive decisions are made. Opportunists, you see, are dedicated to finding
and taking advantage of every opportunity for their own self-aggrandizement.
They could not care less about the broad picture of the general good, the
public good, the long-term interests, even the medium-term projections. They
will not be around to worry about either the medium or long term; they will
have imprinted their opportunistic signature, for better or worse, on the
organization long before the memories of those serving as monitor to the
long-term picture.
The corporate world is literally flooded with
opportunists. Their modus operandi, it seems, has become holy grail for all
others seeking to fulfil their shoes, upon their departure in retirement, or
“advancement”…or death or long-term disability. Politicians, as an example,
measure their life-span in seconds and minutes, often dependent on a headline,
a vote, a resurrected memo, email, tweet or a U-Tube post. For every
opportunist working in public service, there is an army of dark opportunists
seeking and deploying ways to perform surgical and clinical (and recently
anonymous) character dismemberment on the public servant.
Those visiting art galleries, especially the casual
observers, focuses primarily on the “positive spaces on the canvas, where the
light shines, the colours and shapes draw the eyes in, without taking as much
notice of the ‘negative spaces’ where the shadows, or the reflections or the
background taken together provide much of the impression of the piece.
Similarly, orchestral and concert performances, for many, comprise the dramatic
flourishes, the memorable melodies, the unique riffs in rhythm, while letting
the pianissimo’s and the more complicated harmonies recede into the background
of their consciousness, and there by into their memory of the experience.
Similarly, our public discussions, our news reports,
and much of our commentary focuses on the “positive” evidence, thereby allowing
little to no space/time/focus on the things not done, not said, or said in such
a way as to be literally unobservable to the larger public. Statements made to
burnish the reputation of those opportunists in power flow like raindrops in a
storm from the printers and the emails of those serving as message-spinners for
their bosses. Millions of dollars, in government, for example, are dedicated to
the generation of torrents of “positive” press releases, all of them calculated
to put the character from “central casting” (the star, the politician, the
investment broker, the ‘firm,’ the leader) in the best possible light.
So
dominant is this public relations machine that rarely if ever do we hear a
leader, a public figure say, “This mistake is on me!” (Just this week, the
coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mike Babcock did just that on his
mis-handling of a compound and complex penalty killing situation.
And yet, Babcock’s entry into the “negative space” of
his profession demonstrates both an integrity and a degree of self-confidence
that has become extremely rare in the current culture. His players, his bosses
(Manager and President) all can take heart in his acknowledgement of his need
to grow, to learn and to ‘do better’ as he would put it. None of us is exempt
from that requirement, not imposed by a heavy handed system, but rather
generated from within, as a matter of self-respect and self-acceptance,
independent of the kind of accolades that come exclusively from ‘the
audience(s)’ in our lives.
Recently in talking with a hockey coach of a girls’
team (ages 9-10), I heard his strong endorsement of telling his players how
they had to improve, rejecting the latest mantra that “everything you are doing
is great” as the best teaching practice. Helping kids feel more confident need
not exclude honest criticism and suggestions on how to do better. And yet,
there is considerable evidence that at least one whole generation in the United
States has been fed a steady diet of cheer-leading from their teachers and
coaches, without acquiring the necessary complex and difficult skills in subjects
like mathematics and science. In Atlanta, in the recent past, teachers in the
public school system ‘rigged’ their students’ results on state-wide tests in
order to pad their own resume, falling, finally on the point of their own
sword, once they were “outed”.
Falling into
this trap, as the one seeking to become prime minister, Justin Trudeau, fed his
campaign audiences a steady diet of ‘sunny ways’ exaggerate promises easily
recognized as unlikely of fulfillment, and along with his continuing rock-star
reputation on the international stage, his government is suffering from fatigue
and delayed commitments or actual the inevitable confluence of events beyond
its control.
And, from this desk, it seems as if the opportunists
currently offering their names for public service have drunk the kool-aid of
flattery, and obsequious and opportunistic promises that are dedicated
primarily to their own career advancement. And all of this is, to put it
bluntly, insulting to the rest of us.
Are we nothing more than little children desperately
seeking and demanding affirmation, false promises and exaggerated visions of
‘never-never land’ in order to secure our few minutes of casting a ballot? Are
we so easily duped that we do not see, or do not wish to see, the ‘negative
spaces’ in every public figures’ character landscape? Has our gullibility, (or
perhaps our desperation) reached such a profound level that like the drug and
alcohol addicts whose lives have run off the rails of self-management and
control, made us blind and/or powerless to rise above the sugar-coated,
fast-food of instant gratifications?
Honesty takes guts, even among the closest of
associates, especially among close associates whose respect we all desire, if
not need, in order to feel and believe that we “belong”. And “belonging” for
many comes at a very high price. No one, not the COO, the CEO, the CFO, the
President, the principal, the headmaster, the priest, even the Pope is without
‘negative spaces’. Similarly, there is not a signal organization that is
without flaws. And we are long past a shared realization and acceptance of that
deep and inescapable reality. Why then do we continue to permit others to feed
us bullshit, that is calculated to serve the others’ goals, purposes and
aggrandizement at our expense? And we gobble it like starved animals, when we
are a long-way from starving!
There is an old adage, “this is no way to run a
railway” that came out of another era. And today, that aphorism springs to mind
as we all watch generations of people consume things we don’t need, eat food
that does not nourish us, find friends who do not tell us the truth, go places
that do not fulfil our minimal expectations, indulge in thoughts that are not
based in anything close to a shared reality, send tweets and facebook messages
that attempt to demean the other for our immediate power needs, play champion
fighter as the one reputable model of masculinity (both men and women does
this), and then cower in the face of real criticism and refuse to accept
responsibility (it’s not on me!)….
And when we look up? (or down? or across?) at the
headlines that confront us every morning, as we witness the same kind of
cultural abdication, we have to wonder if Edward VIII has become the role model
for our time. Abdication of legitimate political responsibility for truth
telling, for truth acknowledging, for confronting truth to power, no matter in
what circumstances (and this includes men confronting women, as well as the
reverse when appropriate) is a lesson more important to be embedded in our
school curricula as well as our parenting manuals as the recent announcement of
financial management skills, if not more important!
Shiny self-portraits, in themselves, are another form
of avoidance of reality, denial of the dark, negative spaces in our psyches,
our biographies, and our shared futures. So tainted, for example, have letters
of reference and resumes become, that many hiring agents pay them scant
attention, preferring a full “dig” into the biography of the applicant.
There has, for centuries, been a search for and an
honouring of authenticity, the kind of self-confidence and self-respect that
prompts an individual to look carefully and critically at his/her own motives,
words, actions and interactions.
Questions like:
“Why do I seek
to get revenge on that person?” require a close scrutiny.
“ Why did
that student bring the pail of water to
the interviews for the co-op program and pour the water on his competitors? (a
true story from a Canadian university!) demand a full reflection about the
nature of the competition, by both the candidates and the companies offering
the work placement.
“Why was that candidate permitted to lie about the
reputation of his opponent, with impunity?” point to a penetrating questioning
of the kind of culture generates such an act.
“When does dissembling, distracting and lying to
wriggle out of tight spots continue to work for that person?” demand a communal
response that reflects individual and group acknowledgement of responsibility
and accountability.
We can not afford to give a free ticket and a blank
cheque to the opportunists who seek to take power away from both our history, conventions,
protocols and even our laws. And our primary focus on the “positive”
statements, the public relations gestures, the melodies and the highlights,
while minimizing or ignoring, or denying those negative spaces on every canvas
of every human being, will continue to prop up those least worthy of our public
confidence and respect.
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