Success Obsession: Brian Williams Meets Bill Belichick
I think I discovered a new psychological malady: Success Obsession. And I've got Brian Williams and Bill Belichick to thank for it.
Brian Williams' murky claim to have been in a chopper that took enemy fire was exposed to the light of day last week. Mr. Williams' damage-control included the following response when his"mis-statements" were exposed as falsehoods:
Under coach Bill Belichick, the New England Patriot's dark scheme to mess with the official inflated pressure of footballs saw the light of day before the Super Bowl. A degree of consternation and grumbling ensued before and until the Super Bowl after it was discovered they had under-inflated balls used in games. Then, voila, Patriots win Super Bowl. The NFL loses interest in following-up on the how and why Patriot footballs were under-inflated. Another bold prediction: the Patriots and Belichick will suffer little if any repercussions.
The question that must be asked, though is this: Why would Williams and the Patriots/Belichick lie and cheat like this? Both are quite successful in their chosen fields. They don't need to lie and cheat to enhance their status, do they? I don't think so.
But there's a rule out there for those who seek success and recognition - certainly for those who seek success and recognition at any cost: It's never enough; they're never satisfied. And so, if necessary or even convenient, they lie and cheat.
There may be a corollary to this rule: Fear of losing all that success and recognition typically due to the natural slippage that occurs over time. The dread of being taken down a peg, a slight quaver from their lofty perch, causes such people to take any measures necessary to keep them a cut above the rest of us. Their egos simply won't tolerate any correction or comeuppance. They must be perched on Mt. Olympus with their fellow gods.
Most of us don't understand this because we're simply ordinary, normal, everyday folks who recognize that we're not perfect. We're not driven to sit on Mr. Olympus and have the little people look up to us and the grandees and celebrities accept us as equals. We just don't care about such matters. In fact, if we were somehow in a room of these sorts of folks, we can't imagine why people are drawn to the flame of their overweening egos. We just want to go about our lives, spending our time with our families and friends - those who actually care about us and don't gauge our worth by the size of our wallets or our notoriety.
As for Williams and Belichick, thank you for the behavior that's unveiled this malady of "Success Obsession." The rest of us can learn something valuable from your pitiful example. And I think it comes down simply to this: Just tell the truth - always. Oh, and perhaps this too: Your worth has nothing to do with your success and/or notoriety.
Brian and Bill, maybe you can learn something valuable too, although I doubt you will.
LATE UPDATE re Brian Williams:
While Brian Williams dissembling may very well "dissipate into the great repository that contains the unfocused half-thoughts and frustrated intentions of the typical American's 30-second attention span," it seems the sharks who circled this rich, famous, but bleeding news reader, whipped up enough negative publicity to cause NBC to suspend him for six months without pay.
Brian Williams' murky claim to have been in a chopper that took enemy fire was exposed to the light of day last week. Mr. Williams' damage-control included the following response when his"mis-statements" were exposed as falsehoods:
He insisted “I have no desire to fictionalize my experience.” In his TV retraction, he used notably passive language: “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.” And he assured his audience: “I would not have chosen to make this mistake."Can you make any sense out of this drivel? In any case, I suspect that his dissembling will dissipate into the great repository that contains the unfocused half-thoughts and frustrated intentions of the typical American's 30-second attention span.
Under coach Bill Belichick, the New England Patriot's dark scheme to mess with the official inflated pressure of footballs saw the light of day before the Super Bowl. A degree of consternation and grumbling ensued before and until the Super Bowl after it was discovered they had under-inflated balls used in games. Then, voila, Patriots win Super Bowl. The NFL loses interest in following-up on the how and why Patriot footballs were under-inflated. Another bold prediction: the Patriots and Belichick will suffer little if any repercussions.
The question that must be asked, though is this: Why would Williams and the Patriots/Belichick lie and cheat like this? Both are quite successful in their chosen fields. They don't need to lie and cheat to enhance their status, do they? I don't think so.
But there's a rule out there for those who seek success and recognition - certainly for those who seek success and recognition at any cost: It's never enough; they're never satisfied. And so, if necessary or even convenient, they lie and cheat.
There may be a corollary to this rule: Fear of losing all that success and recognition typically due to the natural slippage that occurs over time. The dread of being taken down a peg, a slight quaver from their lofty perch, causes such people to take any measures necessary to keep them a cut above the rest of us. Their egos simply won't tolerate any correction or comeuppance. They must be perched on Mt. Olympus with their fellow gods.
Most of us don't understand this because we're simply ordinary, normal, everyday folks who recognize that we're not perfect. We're not driven to sit on Mr. Olympus and have the little people look up to us and the grandees and celebrities accept us as equals. We just don't care about such matters. In fact, if we were somehow in a room of these sorts of folks, we can't imagine why people are drawn to the flame of their overweening egos. We just want to go about our lives, spending our time with our families and friends - those who actually care about us and don't gauge our worth by the size of our wallets or our notoriety.
As for Williams and Belichick, thank you for the behavior that's unveiled this malady of "Success Obsession." The rest of us can learn something valuable from your pitiful example. And I think it comes down simply to this: Just tell the truth - always. Oh, and perhaps this too: Your worth has nothing to do with your success and/or notoriety.
Brian and Bill, maybe you can learn something valuable too, although I doubt you will.
LATE UPDATE re Brian Williams:
While Brian Williams dissembling may very well "dissipate into the great repository that contains the unfocused half-thoughts and frustrated intentions of the typical American's 30-second attention span," it seems the sharks who circled this rich, famous, but bleeding news reader, whipped up enough negative publicity to cause NBC to suspend him for six months without pay.
“By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News,” said NBCUniversal Chief Executive Steve Burke, in a memo to employees. He called what Mr. Williams did “inexcusable.”My only comments: Why wouldn't they just fire him? But even more important, too bad that "millions of Americans" place their trust in NBC News. What will it take for those "millions" to learn their lesson?
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