Mimesis , Motivation & Work

A simple search on Google will tell us that 'Mimesis' is imitation of the real world in art and literature. The great Greek Plato used the term in the same sense and wondered if most of art is pointless and deceiving because it is mere imitation, a copy of the real ! So in absolute philosophical sense of ‘truth’?- art is a pointless lie ? A Mr. Anderson and not the real Neo ( any Matrix fans ? )!

And then after about 2300 years monsieur René Girard (1923-2015) from La France had his eureka moment and proclaimed that the history of human civilization is nothing but mimesis at play. Girard‘s seminal work has been studied , expanded and is continuously used to explain many sociocultural ?and anthropological phenomena ( one of the most profound applications being explanation of violence in religion) but thanks to it’s lucidity it is possible to summarize the key tenets of his mimetic theory –

1.?Mimetic Desire : People want what everyone else is wanting. All desires are copies (Crypto , Cauliflower & Peloton ?)

2. Mimetic Conflict : Since we all want the same thing, we fight for them ( money, title, bombs and Mars)

3. Scapegoating?: With so much desiring and fighting soon there is Mad Max everywhere. Someone got to take the blame and pay for it so that we can start all over again. Basically, humans’ fetish of finding a Pandora for all evils is a DNA coded survival instinct. When resources are scarce and conflicts are intense, stereotypes are born leading to post truths, othering, apartheid, and war (there is even a Scapegoat theory of International war).

4. Ritualization of Culture : After all the violence of fighting and slaughter of the sacrificial lamb is done, ways must be found to avoid it from happening again and to keep the lessons alive in all living memories to come. Here comes the taboos, rituals, stories, and cults !

While much has been written about impact of Mimetic Theory in understanding the growth of civilization and its key constituents such as religion, art, and psychology; it appears that it is only recently that some have turned the mimetic lens on the workplace as well ( this statement is based entirely on my own research and there might be older references that I couldn’t find). One of the earliest research papers that I could find which explored ?Organizational theories with mimetic’s lens was published in 2003.

I wanted to distill a few ideas that in my opinion may help us understand our workplace-dynamics better and hopefully can even make our work dozos more exciting -

1.?Learning the Correlation Between Motivation and Mimesis : Leaders of the company need to learn about mimesis. It will help them in becoming better coaches , guides, and mentors. Understanding the true nature of mimetic desires could be a critical factor in mentoring viz. leaders can ask pointedly - you want this promo because that’s the hot role everyone is gunning after or is this something that you would truly enjoy ? Another – apparently a large number of workers quitting their jobs are quitting because everyone else is quitting . This ‘turnover contagion’ is mimesis at play .Lets talk about it Dilbert, before you get too excited, shall we ?!

2.?Culture Shaper : Workplaces are littered with nonsensical scapegoats. ‘This is how it is done here ‘ excuse is mostly remnant of some sacrificial ritual at some point in organisation history that lived on and have become taboos now : don’t ask too many questions, follow the dress code, don’t be too funny, always overcommunicate, lets send that survey, its confidential, yada yada yada. Leaders need to constantly pause and critically examine the ambience to ensure that there are no such deadwoods slowly killing the spirit at the workplace and making work a drudgery for exciting talents.

3. Touchstone of Fair Play : In case of a conflict or upheavals, leaders need to critically examine where the real bottlenecks are to avoid scapegoating. In organizations, support functions , smaller teams or teams with leadership challenges tend to be sacrificial lambs. Often Scapegoating is harmless and could even be useful to release the pressure of the moment and in moving on.However,if it takes roots in the culture then this could be demoralizing to impacted teams.

Examples like HR being the scapegoat for poor business performance due to high recruitment cycle time and Supply Chain being blamed for low top line growth are two such classic scenarios in my experience. In both cases, real issues could be systemic ?such as poor hiring value proposition, limited manufacturing, and procurement agility etc.

4. Over Justification Effect : Mimesis is always at work and could disorient people managers and leaders to lose sight of real intrinsic motivators and lead them to over justification effect where they end up rewarding through an over-indexation on external incentives such as pay hike, next role , that expat assignment etc. In high octane cultures, crowded with high performers, it is even more critical to provide the psychological safety to that key talent who is not in the race, to opt out of the race without being judged as less committed. Self Determination theory posits that people are motivated to grow and change their behavior when their need for competence, connection and autonomy are met and leaders need to learn how best to deploy these levers for all vs making sweeping assumptions.

Mimesis is the grand unification theory of desires. It shows that despite all our differences on the surface, we vie to be each other; an idea which is beautiful and scary at the same time; an idea that we must learn more about.

As for me, I perked up when I recently chanced upon this beautiful line in JR Moehringer’s memoir ,The Tender Bar -

?“Manhood is mimesis.To be a man a boy must see a man”

Strongly recommended !?

Study References :

Turnover contagion

Overjustification Effect and Motivation

What is Self Determination Theory?