Mindset _ The New Psychology of Success - Carol S. Dweck [59]
It was a world of personal greatness and entitlement. Kenneth Lay felt a powerful sense of entitlement. Even as he was getting millions a year in compensation from Enron, he took large personal loans from the company, gave jobs and contracts to his relatives, and used the corporate jets as his family fleet. Even during bad years at Chrysler, Iacocca threw lavish Christmas parties for the company elite. At every party, as king, he presented himself with an expensive gift, which the executives were later billed for. Speaking about AOL executives, a former official said, “You’re talking about men who thought they had a right to anything.”
As these leaders cloaked themselves in the trappings of royalty, surrounded themselves with flatterers who extolled their virtues, and hid from problems, it is no wonder they felt invincible. Their fixed mindset created a magic realm in which the brilliance and perfection of the king were constantly validated. Within that mindset, they were completely fulfilled. Why would they want to step outside that realm to face the uglier reality of warts and failures?
As Morgan McCall, in his book High Flyers, points out, “Unfortunately, people often like the things that work against their growth. . . . People like to use their strengths . . . to achieve quick, dramatic results, even if . . . they aren’t developing the new skills they will need later on. People like to believe they are as good as everyone says . . . and not take their weaknesses as seriously as they might. People don’t like to hear bad news or get criticism. . . . There is tremendous risk . . . in leaving what one does well to attempt to master something new.” And the fixed mindset makes it seem all that much riskier.
Brutal Bosses
McCall goes on to point out that when leaders feel they are inherently better than others, they may start to believe that the needs or feelings of the lesser people can be ignored. None of our fixed-mindset leaders cared much about the little guy, and many were outright contemptuous of those beneath them on the corporate ladder. Where does this lead? In the guise of “keeping people on their toes,” these bosses may mistreat workers.
Iacocca played painful games with his executives to keep them off balance. Jerry Levin of Time Warner was likened by his colleagues to the brutal Roman emperor Caligula. Skilling was known for his harsh ridicule of those less intelligent than he.
Harvey Hornstein, an expert on corporate leadership, writes in his book Brutal Bosses that this kind of abuse represents the bosses’ desire “to enhance their own feelings of power, competence, and value at the subordinate’s expense.” Do you remember in our studies how people with the fixed mindset wanted to compare themselves with people who were worse off than they were? The principle is the same, but there is an important difference: These bosses have the power to make people worse off. And when they do, they feel better about themselves.
Hornstein describes Paul Kazarian, the former CEO of Sunbeam-Oster. He called himself a “perfectionist,” but that was a euphemism for “abuser.” He threw things at subordinates when they upset him. One day, the comptroller, after displeasing Mr. Kazarian, saw an orange juice container flying toward him.
Sometimes the victims are people the bosses consider to be less talented. This can feed their sense of superiority. But often the victims are the most competent people, because these are the ones who pose the greatest threat to a fixed-mindset boss. An engineer at a major aircraft builder, interviewed by Hornstein, talked about his boss: “His targets were usually those of us who were most competent. I mean, if you’re really concerned about our performance, you don’t pick on those who are performing best.” But if you’re really concerned about your competence, you do.