I never realized that the drive to get to the top could change a person so dramatically. According to Kramer (2003), “genius-to-folly syndrome -- a swift and steady rise by a brilliant, hard-driving, politically adept individual followed by surprising stints of miscalculation or recklessness” can take place in those who are fighting their way to the top and happened often during the creation and boom of Silicon Valley in the 1990s. It is common in those who so desperately want to make it to the highest position possible to lose who they are in the process and can often forget why they fought so hard to make it to the top; was it for personal gain or were they doing it in order to help others below them?
I find that it happens more times than people want to think or agree with me on but people do change each time they move up within an organization even if most people cannot tell the change; it is there. I know that speaking from experience when I graduated the University of South Florida and was hired at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that I things were going to change but I didn’t think I would. It wasn’t until my relationship at that time started to fall apart that it was brought to my attention that I was changing for the negative. Now I will agree with my partner at that time that yes I had changed but my changes were not the reason of the end of the relationship; in the grander picture my job helped to show me a new side of me and opened my eyes to a new life I was just started to uncover. What was changing? I suppose that I was subconsciously realizing that I was no longer a child or a young woman in college but I was now an adult, with a college degree and a career. As powerful as these changes were, they were also very scary for me and I sure that is what may have changed the way I approached people as in the Kramer example in the text. I will never forget the day someone told me that I was acting better than them and that I was not the person they fell in love with. For those who know me I am relatively down the earth and slightly high strung at times but I never want those who I love and care for to think I am changing that much to the point where I am making people feel belittled in my presence. After 6 months of thinking about what was going on I knew that it was a combination of getting out of my relationship and surrounding myself with people who were more like me and also taking a big chunk of time to reflect on the changes that were taking where was I am able to balance myself out to a more respected place.
I think people are often in the dilemma to prove themselves to others; they have to make it to the top not for them but for someone else. When situations like these occur the person fighting their way to the top is less likely to think of the damage they are committing as the swiftly move to the top and will also do things that are not in their nature; by any means possible to get to the top. During this process it has been my experience that the person changes both inside and outside of the workplace often losing compassion, sympathy and empathy for others and begins to only feel for themselves; to me it is the worst thing that could happen to a person.
It is important to always want more, they want better and the want to push yourself to the top but doing it for the right reasons and using the right path. We have to be grateful to those who get us where we are and continue to support those coming up behind us. I know that as I continue to grow in my career I will not forget those who helped me and I will lend a helping hand when I can because I don’t want to fall back into that “I am better than you” mindset again.
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