Making Two Extremes Equivalent

In response to Greg Hughes’ Data Breaches - Why I’m Shocked And Angry, And Why You Should Be, Too…, longtime Gnomie Stu Kopelman writes:

The key I believe that addresses your entire article has to do with one major element - a flaw if you will - in the attitude of ordinary people who are pushed beyond normal limits to get things accomplished. This has become the nature of the beast in any high-stressed atmosphere. When employees are expected to become machines, the character-quality of these individuals turns to arrogance. Why? Because the competition is so keen, companies can select the very best and the most qualified, and these qualifications set the trap of “I am good at what I do,” but it does not unfortunately end there; instead it is transformed in the heart to mean, “I am a god.” If such a god makes a mistake, especially a big one, he risks losing his job. After all, he is expected to maintain his god-like demeanor. In order to prevent such a loss, he hides his mistakes for both reasons: He can no longer be a god, and he very likely will lose his job. I have seen this utterly darkened mentality, where employees claw their way to the top, stepping on people on the bottom, and hardening their hearts until they are nearly crystallized from human starvation. Yet the crystallized employee is only a mere reflection of his employer - a ruthless mirror for the hired hand to look into. Nothing better can or should be expected.

A laptop locked in a vehicle may not be the best security in the world, but theft has no excuse either, and instead of becoming angry about a stolen laptop, it must be harnessed into catching a thief.

When people are treated with dignity and purpose, such improper time lapses would disappear and employees would no longer feel “dismembered” for making mistakes. Instead they would do the responsible thing and take care of what needs to be taken care of immediately. I utterly loathe the despicable notion that some people believe that no one and nothing can humble them. When bosses in high-tech industries exalt themselves so high that they can no longer be touched, they are sitting ducks for the pits they dig for others, just as sure as if they had dug them for themselves.

Everything else you mentioned in your article hinges directly on how people treat one another, period! If there is a lesson to be learned here, it would be: Train a boss to be a leader so that those serving him will want to do what is right instead of what is politically correct. We are blind to this difference and have sadly made these two extremes equivalent.

[tags]greg hughes,stu kopelman,data breach,job security,workplace trap,god complex[/tags]