Too many of us have become accustomed to lives that don’t really work. That’s easy to do because the world we live in is fascinated by lives that don’t work.
Here’s the normal storyline we’re sold: someone rises to power, fame, or fortune – preferably all three. On the way they step on people, cut corners, and break rules. When they get to the top, they become increasingly divorced from reality. They’re surrounded by people who pander to them because they’re feeding from the trough. Occasionally, their story ends with a climactic fall from grace. We’ve seen this story play out with people like Lance Armstrong and Travis Kalanick. Maybe you’ve seen it up close with a leader you know.
Though many of us are quietly repulsed by this story, it’s easy enough to start thinking that it takes this kind of excess to get to the top. Or that we can travel that path and be the exception, a person who attains the top and doesn’t become unmoored.
Either way, this storyline can fascinate us.
But it shouldn’t. It’s normal.
In fact, I suggest we do something radical. I suggest we get bored with this story. We can have compassion for the individual and for those left in their wake. But the story itself? It’s normal, so normal it’s boring. We should see the headline, give a nice big yawn, and move on. No clicking necessary.
We have better things to do than indulge in the same old story.
