Self-Aggrandizers: Wake-Up!

“Enlightenment is ego’s ultimate disappointment.” – Chogyam Trungpa

The corporate corridors are chockfull of Self-aggrandizers.

The self-absorbed professionals, menacingly proclaiming their own exaggerated importance, power, or reputation. They evaluate their prominence by the immensity and pull of their fiefdom. Their ego surreptitiously entraps them tightly. Even brilliant professionals, unknowingly reach to a stage where they stop listening to any inputs. They strongly and only believe in their own views.They severely suffer from a ghoulish “I-Me-Mine” syndrome.

The unappealing manifested symptoms of such distorted tendencies are so obvious and all around at our work places. Today, it is almost like an epidemic. The only branded method of decreeing our dominance over others. At times, it is masked and tacitly refined. In certain cases, the magnified individuality, also genuinely drive them crazy so as to show off their supremacy to others. When professionals are so obsessed with their own gainful projections, they are likely to misplace their focus on expected role commitments.

In my experience, organizations despite having best of talented professionals, often experiences weighty undercurrent of ego-clatters, leading to compromised performances. Ego not only springs rancorous malaises but also responsible for awful rattles, groupism, and politics at workplace. Egocentric professionals are certainly incisive enough in manipulating their positions in the organization, but they do not necessarily leave behind a favourably enduring impressions on the people. The power plays are lavishly evident on the corporate turfs: possessiveness, jealousy, pressure politics, discrimination, sycophancy, falseness, and many more. Often, such truculently contending cliques/ silos, shrewdly undermine their obligations towards shared organizational priorities and in the process severely damage the expected achievements.

Also, ego nourishes fear, grievances, disquiet and complications. Logically, when the motives of Individuals’ ineptitude are founded on behaviours of tangled people, they are unwilling to change because it would mean a castigation of control or influence on others. In the process, they often tend to distance themselves from the collective objectives of the organization.

Most of us are unmindful of its deceptive nature and the impairment that ego brings in our lives. One of the toughest task for us is to remain anchored in the face of our position, power, and success. The ego intoxication induces image-disorders and infests critical choices we make. Conveniently, we offer sermons against big-headed behaviour and obliviously remain coddled and wrapped in our own skin with same enemy. We all live with double standards. We are in continuous struggle to be domineeringly different than others. Conversely, for anyone with sweltering ambitions and endowments, such behaviour comes as a package-deal.

Yet, it is conceivable to shield oneself from being expended by ego and even encash it to one’s advantage.

Yes! Because having an ego is not evil. It is a powerhouse, If we know how to effectively exploit it well . It energies positive outlook. Our consciousness requires ego to experience in order to strive excellence in our life. Ego is part of our personality structure. It is the driving force of our character. Our ego is our being and all its encompassed thoughts and objects. It is a bundle of experiences of one’s life. It is what you want it to be.

Nevertheless, being ego obsessed can certainly attract problems. Unfortunately, we only shape our ego as ubiquitous and equally destructive facet of our consciousness. We give existence to ego by accepting it as the only governing force. A simple “awareness” about our own ego, enables us to recognize where it is instigating misery in our lives. Awareness allows us to unfasten from our own ‘egomaniac preferences’. Our incompetence to understand ourselves (why we behave the way we do when imperilled to certain circumstances), can have a considerably detrimental consequences. Therefore, we have to learn to control our reactions. We need to learn to substitute our toxic thoughts with humility. We have to learn to admit our weakness with grace. 

I do not think there is any place for alfa-managers now.

I believe that as we transcends towards higher objectives, our egos will have inadequate space to blowout. Ego is absence of self –knowledge. Awakened state of mind enables us to dissect between ‘egomaniac preferences’ and potentially awakened ‘objective preferences’. The inner echo of inadequacies, empowers us to invest on our confines. Our obsession with the short-focused gains at work can deprive us of the long-term possible gains. Only our deep resolve to be a good professional/leader/human being, can dwarf our struggle to overpower the ‘egomaniac preferences’.

In today’s disruptive era, there is little recognition for ego-centric professionals. Further, the concept of transformative leadership is growing very rapidly. Organizations are evolving from the rigid hierarchical control structure to a self-empowered, collaborative, and co-creating teams.

Yet, the only imaginable vulnerability of awakening is the attachment with our new identity…the new ego. The new “Me”. It has inherent potential to become a camouflaged ‘Avatar’ of our ego. We have to unremittingly keep our awakened mind ignited to remain objectively detached to new-fangled potential darkness.

The final answer is in blooming our consciousness with ‘detached objectivity’.

Evam buddheh param buddhvaa sanstabhyaatmaanamaatmanaa |

Jahi shatrum mahaabaaho kaamaroopam duraasadam ||

(Thus knowing consciousness to be superior to material senses (body, mind, and intelligence), so conquer the material senses with the unadulterated consciousness of the self and conquer this invincible enemy in the form of desire/ego -Bhagvad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 43)