A friend shows up here today and tells me that there’s a new trend in “shrink talk”. Recently laid-off Vice Presidents – the upper management crew of America–are talking to their psychiatrists about the meaning (or lack of it) in their lives now that they no longer have a job: What were they doing all this time? This is particularly poignant in the financial sector as you can imagine. If Wall Street is really a bunch of numbers disappearing in mid-air, then what the hell were these people doing with their lives for the past 30 years…or more?
It’s the Crisis of Meaning for the “powerful”. Better late then never I say. If you didn’t already know you were more than the name on your door or your checkbook, 2009 was the time to figure it out.
We are entering the age of “It doesn’t matter who you thought you were”. Seemingly indispensable folks are now becoming dispensable and painful slaps in the face are heard everywhere. People who once wielded power over hundreds, maybe thousands, are crying in the arms of their accountants, wondering how they ended up in bankruptcy.
The men behind these masks of power (and yes, they are mostly men) are staring into headlights without a clue. Defining the importance of their life by the size of their office; the letters after their name; their expense accounts creates a pretty high dependency on the accoutrements of power. There’s little incentive to look inside or beyond the game you seem to be winning.
Real power is not easily seen, and not easily destroyed. It only comes from inside, once you’ve taken the time to question, to stop and really listen (to yourself), which may not come naturally for some. Any power that is given to you from outside yourself can be taken away; and these days it seems more likely than ever to happen.
As we step into this great redefinition of authority and personal significance at the beginning of a new century, remember to look inside for what your life means, and do it now. The power you have within yourself cannot be taken away; the most valuable part of you is invisible. Didn’t you always, secretly know that?