You Don't Have to be a Jerk to Succeed

I was reading the Wall Street Journal issue of Feb 3-4 about two weeks ago. An article by Yascha Mounk 💥 with the title above attracted my attention. The article summarized:

 " Pop-Culture Icons celebrated for their sheer nastiness may encourage the idea that bad behavior is the path to Power. But research shows its often the other way around,"  

The author cited examples of the message from award winning TV series specifically " Succession", which just won the Emmy Award for best television drama for the third year in a row. I have watched the first and second seasons, but did not watched the last Season, because I was upset that every one in the series were jerks in order to succeed. The other TV Series similar to Succession are: House, The Devil Wears Prada,  American Psycho and The Wolf of Wall Street.

The article reminded me that a jerk known as DJ Trump may be able to be successful again in this coming election. I am hoping this will not happen. 

The article concluded that contrary to expectations disagreeable people were no more successful in pursuing power in the work place than their more agreeable colleagues.   This was based on a study by Cameron Anderson of the University of California, a professor of Organizational Behavior at Berkeley. 

He measured the personalities of 457 college students and then followed their career trajectory over a period of 14 years. Anderson and his colleagues found that disagreeable individuals were intimidating which elevated their power, however this dominating behavior was offset by the fact that they have poorer interpersonal relationships at work. 

Finally, the article states that powerful people can get away with being jerks much more easily. But it does not follow that being a jerk will help you become powerful. And when you forget this lesson, you are only making the life of your coworkers miserable, but POSSIBLY sabotaging your own well being.

I have personally identified at the above article reflecting on my own professional career with the FDA. 

Do you know of successful individuals that are not jerks? I know of several people who are agreeable but very successful in their chosen fields. But I also know some successful people who are JERKs. 

The most famous example of a Jerk is Donald J Trump. On the contrary a famous example of an agreeable individual is Joe Biden. Do you want a Jerk to run our country next year? I certainly hope NOT!  God Help the US if the Jerk wins the White House this November!  

 https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/02/04/trumps-lead-over-biden-may-be-smaller-than-it-looks   

💥Yascha Mounk is a professor of International Affairs at John Hopkins University.  His most recent book is "The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time."     

Meanwhile, enjoy this photo of the tulips on the THD courtyard I photographed just recently.

Meanwhile here's the current Question of the Year: Is Biden too old to be president?

A special counsel report on Biden’s handling of sensitive documents highlighted his poor memory. “That does not sound like someone capable of executing one of the world’s most important jobs,” USA Today’s Ingrid Jacques writes. But Biden’s old age also means a long, experienced political career. “Aging brains make more connections, perhaps because they have more history to work with,” Bill McKibben writes for The Los Angeles Times.

https://chateaudumer.blogspot.com/2024/01/is-joe-biden-too-old-to-be-reelected.html

Lastly, Donald Trump(2017-2021) tied with Andrew Johnson( 1865-1869) as the 2nd worst President of the US.  The #1 worst President is James Buchanan( 1857-1861).

For Details visit:   https://www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/the-worst-presidents/slideshows/the-10-worst-presidents?slide=11

On the other hand the top five Best Presidents are: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Franklin D. Roosevelt. To honor them we celebrated President's Day yesterday as a Federal Holiday!