If someone uses the phrase “saving the world” on any level approaching consistent, run. Legitimate people who are working on legitimate problems do not rely on this drama. The more exciting the narrative and the more prominent a role the leader plays in it, the more skeptical you should be.
(Ah, you might say, but facts can’t be too good to be true: they are simply true or false. My answer to that would be the optimizer’s curse.)
I don’t think the problem stems from how important an organization thinks their work is. Emerson’s meme company had no pretense to be world-saving, and yet had toxic dynamics as well.
The problem is that high stakes are not a reason to suspend ethical injunctions or personal boundaries; those provide more protective value when applied to something with genuinely high stakes.
I don’t think the problem stems from how important an organization thinks their work is. Emerson’s meme company had no pretense to be world-saving, and yet had toxic dynamics as well.
The problem is that high stakes are not a reason to suspend ethical injunctions or personal boundaries; those provide more protective value when applied to something with genuinely high stakes.