October
30, 2018
In
his excellent article, Kramer discusses the phenomenon of people who ascend to
the pinnacles of their profession and subsequently fall from grace. These people appear to have it all; money,
job, prestige, and power. Why do they
lose it? Could they have avoided those
mistakes? Kramer provides some good
interesting strategies that could be pursued to prevent such dramatic falls
from grace. I will discuss three such
examples of a fall from grace that occurred in society, at work, and in my
personal life.
Societal Example
Kevin
was an outstanding Catholic Priest. He
was 29 years old, tall, athletic, and very good looking. Kevin was something more. He was an extremely spiritual and holy
individual. The goodness of his soul
seemed to emulate from around him like some barely visible energy field. Kevin had made it through high school,
college, and the Catholic Seminary in great order. Where ever he was in life, he excelled and
wowed people with his charisma.
I
got to know Kevin better during a weekend spiritual retreat sponsored by St.
Patrick’s Church in Brighton, MI. Kevin
was the associate pastor of St. Patrick.
During the weekend, we reflected on our lives, meditated, played sports,
conducted group inquiries into philosophy, and sang songs. It was a tremendous experience that is still
with me 20 years later.
One
day, during a summer-time Mass in 1998, Kevin prepared to give his homily. A homily is usually a collection of the
Priest’s thoughts & reflections on the Bible readings of the day, and how
they could best be applied in our everyday life. The congregation was prepared to hear Kevin’s
thoughts. Kevin always gave relevant and
powerful homilies. Kevin opened by
stating the following: “I am leaving the Priesthood to get married to xxx, and
nothing can change my mind about this.”
He further explained that he would not have joined the Priesthood if he
had not been convinced that the Bishops of Rome would reverse their position on
Priests taking wives. It was a shocking
announcement. There was anger. There was a sense of betrayal. There was a sense of abandonment. My reaction was sadness. I was saddened that our Parish was about to
lose this great Priest because the Church could not allow married Priests
within their ranks. (They do!) I know a Catholic Priest in Corpus Christi
that is married. He was a married
Protestant Minister and he converted to Catholicism and the Priesthood. How unfair is that?
The
point here is, Kevin’s behavior towards women changed from when he was an
aspiring Priest to another perspective after he was ordained into the
Priesthood. I am not saying that his
choice was wrong. However, just as some
of Kramer’s examples changed their behavior once they attained a goal, this
example is similar. Just like the Kramer
examples, Kevin suffered a huge fall from grace due to his actions.
Professional Example
Most
of us know people who have done “everything”.
There isn’t an experience that they haven’t had or something that they
haven’t done in their lives. If they can
convincingly articulate their experiences (real or imagined!), they can move up
in the ranks of an organization. We had
one such guy where I currently work at.
He was known for always “having been there and done that”. Behind his back, he was derided as a “legend
in his own mind”. This person, we will
call him “Rick”, moved up rapidly. His
behavior also changed as he moved up.
He
was no longer respectful of people. At
company gatherings, he was loud, obnoxious, and usually drunk. People began to lose respect for him. As the director of a key area in the
organization, he was tolerated by people.
That all changed when it was revealed that due to his direct actions,
his directorate lost the organization millions of dollars over the past several
years. Rick was then publicly humiliated
by being removed from his directorship and demoted. Rick could have avoided this if he had paid
attention to a few simple rules. Social
graces, moderate drinking, and a humble profile would have served him
well. In addition, although he moved up
the ladder by appearing to know everything, that very trait got him into
trouble with his directorate. Rick did
not like to ever receive advice or information.
He always thought that he knew more than anyone else, so he did not ever
have to consider an alternative viewpoint or course of action. I took no pleasure in seeing Rick fail. However, reading Kramer’s article reminded me
of that situation. This was a time where
Rick’s “know-it-all” attitude should have been jettisoned and replaced with a
humble inquiring mindset. He made it to
the top but proceeded to fail.
Personal Example
My
last example comes from a tale of two brothers (cousins of mine). The younger brother appeared to have life
mastered, while the older brother struggled.
Whereas the older brother struggled in his personal and professional
life, the younger brother appeared to have an easy path in his personal and
professional life. The younger brother
was educated, articulate, and good looking.
He was also personable, athletic, and tall. On the surface, he appeared to have it all.
The
younger brother attained a wealthy status.
He owned multiple homes, had boats, cars, motorcycles, money in the
bank, and investments. He was married to
a beautiful woman and they had three kids together (since grown and out of the
house). The younger brother appeared to have
it all, then fell from grace. The traits
that brought him to the top were abandoned.
He was described as perpetually angry, bitter, and critical of everyone
around him. His brothers and sisters
stopped associating with him. His kids
stopped coming around except when they were expected to. He was fired from his job. Finally, he discovered that his wife, unhappy
for over 20 years, had started seeing someone else. He had received the wake-up call of his
life!
Meanwhile
older brother finally got settled in life and appeared to have caught up to his
younger brother. The older brother was
different in that he was not bitter, angry, or critical of others. Instead, he appeared to have learned some
valuable lessons in life and was now very pleasant to be around. The older brother received a call from his
younger brother in which the younger brother made a serious attempt to make
amends for his actions over the course of their lives. Of course, the older brother accepted his
overture and they both forgave each other and promised to do better in the
future. But, what went wrong with the
younger brother?
I
can’t say for sure what went wrong. I
can only speculate since I heard the story second-hand. However, sometimes when a certain level of
success is attained, such as surpassing what one’s parents did in life, a
pent-up bitterness at the unfairness of it all explodes. I believe this happened to my cousin. He appeared to have all the attributes of a
successful person, but his strengths that he relied on during his ascent to the
top, he abandoned. Not only that, he
abandoned his religion as well.
Contributing to the mess was probably a lack of emotional intelligence
(EI) development, during his climb to the top.
(He and his wife are attempting to make their marriage work and are
involved in counseling. He has also
revived his interest in the Catholic church.)
I hope that all turns out well for him.
The one thing that Kramer did not cover in his article, was a fall from
grace that included a subsequent rebound after learning the lessons of what
caused the fall.
Respectfully,
John
Hescott
References:
Kramer,
R. M. (2003). The Harder They Fall (Links to an external site.) . (cover
story). Harvard Business Review, 81(10), 58-66.
Hescott,
John. (2017-2018).
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