"Bolope" - The Biggest Danger After Corruption!

After corruption the biggest danger to any society is sycophancy - "bolope"; a "yes-man" and a "yes-woman" behavior which is guided by the use of flattery, excessive obedience, buttering & sucking up to people with power & influence in order to win unfair favours from them. 

Some people are so good at it that they can spot the perfect opportunity, time and moment to lick the boots of their superiors with an amazing but meticulous shoeshine which their bosses have never seen before. It should be noted that this is purported by the presence of bosses with a narcissistic tendencies who need endless approval from others about every single, little bit of anything and cannot tolerate the slightest ounce of criticism or dissent.

Nowadays sycophancy has increasingly come to be seen as a shortcut route to career & personal advancement especially among the educated employees - who in turn are passing it on to their children - but this can prove to be detrimental to the progress of any organization as a whole with the following consequences;

1. It encourages nepotism & dishonesty in work leading to loss of meritocracy because content & talented employees cannot suck up to stupid people.

2. It demoralises honest & hardworking employees while it encourages the presence of some non-deserving person in the administration or closer to some top office. From my personal experience, I have been to so many business offices where I met a boss and left wondering to myself, "how the heck did such an airhead ascend to power?" - usually this is after a poor service or a situation that could have been resolved better had that office been occupied by an intelligent, sensible and well deserving person.

3. Human beings are not mechanical objects and psychology plays a bigger role than anything. Given that everything else being equal, people will bestow favor on those that they trust, like & know (TLK) . Undue favours are bound to be extended to sycophants resulting in misgovernance, mismanagement & unfair treatment towards well deserving people. 

4. It can result in loss of independence, impartiality, credibility and meritocracy because organizations are full of people who no longer mean what they say nor say what they mean. All that they have mastered is to tell their bosses exactly what they want to hear but in sugarcoated manner. Eventually everyone in an organization will become a smooth criminal who are very sneaky in their crazy ways. 

5. Have you ever met a hired boss who behaves like the entire organization is his own making, his own property, his own identity? If yes, then look no further, just look among the individuals surrounding the narcissistic boss's office and you find bootlickers of the highest eminence. This creates a cloud of self-righteousness, arrogance, and despotism in those in power hence insulating them from reality. 

6. One day you will find out that a 10-year old is a full government minister because they have decided to include babies, toddlers & the sucklings in matters of governance. Look no further, it's all recommendations and "word of mouth" which are given more value than talent and efficiency is replaced by flattery. Good advice sounds like dissonance. 

7. It's a common occurrence in meetings for bootlickers to keep quiet until their boss discloses his cards - that is if they didn't find out beforehand. From there it's hallelujah all the way to New Jerusalem because bosses who encourage sycophancy usually get the advice and answers that reflect their already established line of thought - which might be wrong and also a hindrance to levelheaded, good decisions making process. 

8. In most circumstances we have seen many complete deadbeat bosses walking around so cocksure and full of themselves as if they are the next big thing since bread came sliced while in reality they are nothing worthy of substance besides the power of the office that they hold. That is because such bosses never get the opportunity to hear sincere, unadulterated & honest public grievances and negative views. Praise & worship choirs are singing louder than the crying of the children because of a longer boring church service with no food to eat and nothing to cheer up the soul nor warm the heart. 

I could go on and on but on a closing note I should point out that organizations & societies that aspire to thrive need people of courage and individuality that are willing to offer a different but professional view from the consensus. Hence, those in power must be aware of sycophants around them and consciously abstain from falling prey to their flattery.