Fear––which is to say, your Ego.
Your Ego wants simplicity, certainty, control. Mine does too––it’s Ego’s nature. But collaboration is messy, complex, and sometimes, more miss than hit.
Your Ego wants resources, status. It wants to be at the top. If it can’t be the head of structure A, it makes you move to structure J, or Z, anywhere where it can ensure its position.
So, okay, you can’t the superintendent, or even the school principal, but you can terrorize those fifth-graders, show them who’s in charge.
That was my son’s seventh-grade English teacher: she called them nincompoops, derided their compositions in front of the class, and gave them assignments they didn’t understand, without ever explaining what she wanted. We’ve all had that teacher.
His six-grade teacher, Mr. Wasco, had created the opposite classroom. He asked the kids’ opinions and respected them. He co-created the assignments with the students, sharing his power with them. He valued progress over results. We all wish we had this teacher.
The first one was in charge, but at what cost? Was she fulfilling her duty to help students develop writing and reading skills? Of course not.
She acted out of fear; she feared not being good enough, and that the children would reveal her flaws. Powering over them, reducing them to insignificant “nincompoops,” was how she ensured her position at the top. Easy, simple.
Leaders who power over their people are driven by fear. And they use fear as a control tactic––it works on them, so it must work on you too.
But fear only works when we the people listen to the part of us that’s driven by fear: our Ego.
I choose peace and collaboration over fear. I choose love.
What will you choose?
Love,
Carolina
Carolina Perez Sanz 