Every human, leader and team knows it’s difficult to deal with failure, but our approach to success and appreciation is often overlooked. Jason Barger explores “Tall Poppy Syndrome” and 3 perspectives to help us honor and celebrate self and others with humility and gratitude.
SHOW NOTES
1:47 – Jason introduces Season 4 episode 10 of the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast and thank you for listening. We wish to create content that engages your mind and heart and allows you to step back and think and add some positivity to your life. This podcast talks about a lesson about dealing with Tall Poppy Syndrome.
2:30 – Please leave a review for the podcast
3:40 – We can’t control everything but what we can control is our response. Still a lot of work to do but wanted to remind the audience what is within our control is the temperature we create in the organizations and teams we work with. If you have a suggestion, please send it in to info@jasonvbarger.com
4:30 – Jason talks about today’s conversation about tall poppy syndrome. When someone else gets recognized for success, there is some psychology that goes into that and also how important is how we react to that. When one poppy grows taller than the others, many people want to tear that poppy down. Different parts of the world talk about this in different ways. Jason talks about how different cultures around the world view this.
Don’t chop others down just because they may have success in their organization.
10:22 – The most obvious example of tall poppy syndrome is when people think of themselves as better than others. Jason talks about how we all may experience this in some ways of being the tall poppy and having success and often we see others being viewed as the tall poppy.
14:53 – Jason talks about how we may hide our gifts so that we don’t stick out because we don’t want to be considered the tall poppy. A discussion of what that means for teams and organizations follows.
17:22 – Jason shares a few personal examples about tall poppy syndrome and some of the successes that he has also experienced and not shrinking behind those successes. After writing his first book, Step back from the baggage claim, Jason found recognition from the New York Times article and CNN.
25:20 – Sometimes there is nothing that you can control and even your best advocates can naturally feel envy or thoughts of “why isn’t this happening for me?”. This can be a hard step for those who are successful because they do not want others to be hurt so the impression is that success can also make people go inward. Jason was recognized recently as the top 200 global thought leaders for 2021 by PeopleHum. It took Jason a few weeks to acknowledge it because of the tall poppy syndrome element.
31:40 – When you are celebrated, Jason invites a reminder to embrace and celebrate your own successes, not out of ego or to gain attention but with humility. To stand and say, “I am proud of the work I do and I am thankful for this recognition”. Jason talks about the other people around us and what that looks like or means and how people could react to such announcements.
Don’t tear down but give grace, let’s go out of our way to give recognition.
Questions to Ponder
- What are you proud of in your life right now?
- What is worthy of humble & grateful celebration?
- Who are the people who have played a role in your success?
- Who in your life is worthy of being celebrated, recognized, appreciated, instead of being envied or torn down?
Remember to stand up tall and honor humility, gratitude in ourselves, and in that way we will build a poppy field where we can celebrate success where we can acknowledge the other poppies around us.
If you like the podcast, have a question, or just want to share your thoughts about daring to begin please leave a comment below or please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.
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ABOUT THE THERMOSTAT
Conversations and micro-thoughts to engage your mind and heart.
A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker, and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, is the host of The Thermostat, a podcast journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision, and values.