One of the major US networks has revamped its Sunday news program. As a guest on his predecessor’s last show, the new host explained the format. He used an analogy that we likely will be hearing more of in coming months and, perhaps, years.
He said that Washington, D.C. usually teaches the country. But he, in addition to the standard interviews and panel discussions with various of these “teachers,” is going to showcase a visit to a different part of the interior of the country every week to see what people there might actually have to teach those in the capital.
The obtuseness of attitudes like this is impenetrable. It, quite unawares, carries its psychic isolation with it wherever it goes. Those caught in its grasp are unlikely to learn much from obnoxiously patronizing visits to we village idiots.
Whatever wisdom they do acknowledge will inevitably be assigned to the “who would have thought” category characteristic of the unwittingly insightful genius of the court jester. That’s the thing about people who see themselves as teachers, and we as their pupils: whatever we do seem to add to the dialogue must be only dimly perceived by us; it is for them to recognize, interpret, and integrate it into their own narrative in order for it to attain any genuine value.
This enables them to claim quasi-democratic credentials while retaining their self-awarded elite status. Even when nominally taught, they remain the teachers.
But let’s be honest: as a manager – or a “leader” – at work, what attitude do you adopt about yourself, and which do you take toward your juniors and staff? How realistic do you suppose are the presumptions of the “teachers” in Washington? How practical are yours?
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Today’s tip: Speaking of noisy, self-celebratory elitism and true, quiet nobility of spirit, please see this must-read piece by Michael Wade, about where real greatness lies – and why the “teachers” are so unsuited to identifying it.
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