Why Should you Care about Maturity?
Your bad boss is the result of Immaturity.
The war in Ukraine is the result of Immaturity.
All human-made problems are the result of Immaturity.
That is why you should care about Maturity.
How can I make such bold claims?
I will give you an example.
What so many of us have experienced.
Toxic Work
Why are toxic workplaces so commonplace?
Because of Immaturity.
It is not because of barking bosses, lack of leadership or cold capitalism.
Those are only manifestations of Immaturity.
To deal with toxic work we must bypass the “root” causes and dig into the soil.
What will we find?
Narcissism
In the immature soil of toxic work, we will find plenty of narcissism.
Narcissists hire and promote other narcissists. That is a strong reason why we end up with so many leaders who are not fit for purpose.
Pursuit of status and admiration
Apart from that, we’ll find a large number of extraneous substances. Our pursuit of status and admiration makes us choose careers that are not good for us, or anyone else.
Wishful thinking
We will find heaps of wishful thinking. “Things will be great, the day I get that promotion, that bigger office, that pay rise…”
Low self-esteem
We will find dispersed pockets of low self-esteem. Manifested in people who believe they don’t deserve anything better.
As a result, many of us are good at swallowing unacceptable behaviour, exhausting workloads and silly rules.
The immature soil fertilises toxic work.
Many spend their own time trying to escape from it all. Whether they use food, drugs or alcohol. They binge-watch, shop on impulse or act nasty on social media.
"Wait a minute! It is not all my fault?!
No, it is not all your fault. People in power have much to answer for.
Millions of people around the world go to work every day, afraid of losing their jobs. They have my sympathy.
But we are still guilty. Because we enable those in power to carry on, directly or indirectly, passively or actively.
What if no one had wanted to work for Harvey Weinstein?
It might be limited what you can do – right now. That doesn’t mean you cannot do anything. Ever.
It is our responsibility.
We all have a responsibility to end a world full of toxic workplaces and all other kinds of Immaturity.
Your responsibility can be the size of Mount Everest or the size of a mole, but it is there.
The feedback loop.
Did you notice the leaf and the seed in the Toxic Work Tree?
We have a feedback loop here. The emptiness or cynicism your toxic workplace instils in you goes back into the soil.
Now, back to my first claim:
“All human-made problems are the result of Immaturity.”
Look at the Toxic Work Tree.
Replace “Toxic work” with
“The war in Ukraine,” “Climate change” or “poverty.”
What would the soil look like? Would it be much different from that of the Toxic Work Tree?
"Great. Got it. But what's in it for me?! How will Maturity make my life better?"
Before we move on to that:
Read more about
What Maturity Looks Like.
Or go directly to “what’s in it for me”:
The Benefits of Maturity.
What Do You Know About Maturity?
Take the Maturity quiz and join us.
