Often, People Mistake Authority for Superiority

I have been studying people’s need to be important for awhile now.  At first, I thought it had something to do with an awareness of mortality.  I think this is part of it, but as I watched people who were jockeying for a place in a long line I also saw something else.  People need to feel different, to feel special.  There is something the same (therefore mediocre) about being like everyone else.  It is especially true here in America where we value individualism so much.  We have to declare our differences in order to be a valid person.

I also realized that people want jobs with authority because they feel so special as a result of having these jobs.  This is ironic because as every “working stiff” in America knows, you do not have to be special or superior to gain a manager’s job.  In fact, very often, the exact opposite happens.  I was reading the other day (on Linked In) an article about executive recruitment, which stated that 40% of new executives fail.  There are the statistics, beyond our own experience with bosses, that really, a promotion does NOT say that you are special or superior in any way.  Promotions are often timing and have very little to do with objective measurements of intelligence or knowledge, or any of the other 100 desirable traits that a manager should have. 

If you realize that these things are true, it may open up a world to you.  You can also see that no matter who you meet in this life, they are not ‘better’ than you are.  Even though people will try and try to demonstrate their superiority, you can know that it is not real.  You do not have to be special or better to get a promotion, often, all you need is to be in the right place at the right time.

Authority does not mean superiority.  Often (not always), gaining authority is non-sensical and undeserved.  Using authority to gain ‘specialness’ or ‘superiority’ is falseness that no one should allow.  Authority must be given by the people that you have authority over, they may grant it, but it equates to nothing else – not specialness and not superiority.

It is also important that I add this: there is nothing wrong with being just like everyone else, it’s okay, it’s cool, you can still be loved.  We don’t have to gain individuality at anyone’s expense, we can be individual without declaring superiority over some one else.  Authority does not buy us anything except responsibility, so beware.