Inner Quest Leadership Articles

  Legend   

Are You A Legend In Your Own Mind?

Came Face to Face with Tall Poppy Syndrome some years ago.

Any marketer will tell you ... make your product enticing, needed and "Bigger than Ben Hur".  Having worked on the launch of literally thousands of products, services and other people, where these power marketing principals were hugely successful, this should have been a piece of cake.
 
This time however, the product was "myself", which was going to be much more difficult.
 
The Agony of Self-Promotion   
Most people find it quite challenging to promote themselves. We find self-promotion more confronting because, the majority of human beings are affected by the same deep seated "feelings" of inferiority around fame.
 
Why? Because the majority of us had it drummed into our heads, from early childhood, that a display of self-promotion was, well ... just not good manners.
 
We were told we were showing off, being egotistical, bragging, being a know-all, or sounding dogmatic and were then "tossed off" by the group, until the behavior was modified.
 
We soon learned that if we wanted to get along, we would have to go along (a paramount need of children) and that any display of individuality or leadership was going to be met with rejection in the form of a rebuff, scoffing, ridicule or withdrawal.

  Tall Poppy Syndrome 

We did eventually grow up, but instead of this dynamic moving along with our childhood, it lingered on in our lives to become what is now colloquially named "Tall Poppy Syndrome".

Tall Poppy is a distrustful force (similar to a dangling meat cleaver), that is poised ready to chop down any identity that may get "too big for their boots".

Tall Poppy shows up in our community via the media, on the radio or television, in our clubs, throughout the workplace and even within our families. In fact, ... anybody who attempts to stand out or be different, will attract an element of Tall Poppy, whether they want it, or not!

Taking on a Leadership role means moving beyond the Tall Poppy issue and insulating ourselves from the potential influences of those who will invariably wish to bring us down.     

 Leading The Group 

It is a well-known Leadership phenomenon, that humans tend to fall back into a child-parent role-play scenario within groups.

Particularly in the case of a "Committee" or "Board", if not monitored, a kind of "them and us" thing can develop.  Just like children testing the boundaries of their parents, the group can unconsciously band together to "bring down" the leadership ... it's nothing personal, that's just Tall Poppy Syndrome in action.

If you want to prevent this happening in your group, just explain Tall Poppy Syndrome and the Leadership Phenomenon to them, and hold them accountable accordingly.      

So ..  who do you think you are anyway?

We must briefly mention our champions of Tall Poppy Syndrome - I was introduced to Miss. X. You must know somebody like Miss X ... Leader of the Opposition ... Tall Poppy Syndrome on legs ... you recognize them for their need to "expose" your inefficiencies by competing with your knowledge and tweaking your inner most fears with an alarming display of competition.

The loaded question indignantly came... "So, just who do you think you are anyway?"

Was so thankful for having spent all those years aspiring to conscious relationships, recognizing in that instant that it was just "me" doing the best possible to inspire other humans towards the same internal freedom.

It is so easy to fall into the dominating clasps of our own belief system to degenerate into the ugly airs of superiority.

Many leaders unintentionally fall into the self importance trap ... illusion becomes delusion and what now exists is a "Legend-In-Their-Own-Mind". They have lost sight of the fact that we are all on one level, hierarchy is a mere fantasy and nobody is better than another.

 Legend Behavior is a Honey Pot to TPS. 

Leadership is merely a role being played out by the courageous and that always deserves respect.

So ask yourself this question truthfully .. are you a Legend In Your Own Mind? ... or do you walk through life with a drain pipe full of Tall Poppy Syndrome stuck up your nose?

Cryptic?  Well ~ Think about it! 

Be A Legend!