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Some people I’ve worked with have what we might think of as that victim mentality. The Leadership Style instrument I use (LSI from Human Synergistics) measures two areas titled Dependent and Avoidance that collectively describe a style that starts with the assumption that they are the victim in most circumstances. Some of the descriptions include:
A tendency to be easily influenced, not taking independent action
A strong tendency to deny responsibility or accountability
A passive attitude
Feelings of helplessness and/or guilt over real or imagined mistakes
The presence of rapid change or traumatic set-backs
A lack of self-respect
Extreme fear of failure
Someone asked me the other day what was the opposite of the victim mentality. That ignited a lively dialogue which came to the conclusion that Creativity is the opposite of victim mentality. Isn’t that a great picture? If we eliminate policies, procedures, governance, or leadership styles that create or assume a victim mentality, we unleash creativity. Although my work is focused on leadership within corporations, the first thing that came to mind was our law makers. Start evaluating all of the bills that are coming through congress (or ones that have been part of the landscape for many years) and begin to evaluate them in terms of “Do they create victims or do they instill creativity?” Many of the laws of this nation seem to start with the assumption that you are (or should be) a victim. And then they tend to perpetuate that belief. Our only opportunity in this rapidly changing global economy is to be creative and innovative. Shouldn’t we stop passing laws that push us toward or assume we are or should be victims?
But, closer to home, can you evaluate your or others leadership style on this victim-creativity balance beam? It’s always easiest to see it in others but the first step in great leadership is self-awareness, self-assessment, and humility. Have a discussion with your team. Maybe start by evaluating the group of people that work for you. Do they behave as victims or creators? What about our leadership style is causing that? How do we change the way we lead to increase the creative nature of our company?
My wife and I recently had the opportunity to listen to Condoleezza Rice when she made a speaking engagement in our home town. During the question and answer period one of the first question was “How did a young person of color from Birmingham, Alabama make it all the way to Secretary of State?” The first words out of her mouth without hesitation were “We were never allowed to be victims!”
4 comments
Hi there, I know this is an older post from June 2011, but I wanted to let you know it came up in a search I was making this morning (April 10, 2020) and it was the perfect thing for me to read today! Across the years and across the miles (I am in Central Oregon, USA), your words made a difference to me today. I have been thinking a lot about my own creativity lately, and how it feels blocked, underdeveloped, even non-existent. Then the last couple of days I have been considering what I thought was a completely different subject – the role of a victim mentality in my life. So your article and the statement “Creativity is the opposite of a victim mentality” makes so much sense to me, has energized me and given me hope and joy! I will be unpacking this for a while, but I want to say “thank you!”
Hiya. I was googling the opposite of victim mentality when I randomly (is there any such thing?) came across this post. It is most illuminating to think that creativity is the opposite to ‘playing the victim’. Amazing to think you wrote the piece in 2011 & I’ve come across it in April 2020; a time when the world is in lockdown & we require creativity like we’ve never needed it before. Creativity to keep our businesses afloat, creativity to keep our children entertained & educated, creativity to help our mental health, creativity to design & produce PPE to protect frontline workers. This is a time when victim mentality could easily take over for each & every one of us, however, the word CREATIVITY can inspire us to think differently, increase our awareness and instil hope & a sense of purpose into our lives at this current time.
Thank you for wisdom
Hello All,
So why is there so many explanations on having a victim….mentality,outlook,behavior. We should have as many explanations on reversing this characteristic.?
Not sure creativity is enough to oppose the victim mentality. My learning is that it has to be creativity + execution. I see this combination as a ‘Trailblazer’. The trailblazer recognizes then the problem, then sets a multistage path to its fix and monitoring the fix. Getting stuck in the ‘recognize’ stage, and complaining about what you see, or, taking ‘see I told you that would happen’ is the victim. The Trailblazer creates and executes a path from the problem to solution. A true leader can do this. It isn’t quick, it’s a progression.