“People are not against you; they are for themselves.” – Laozi
With the Aristoteles, Platos, Descartes, Kants, and Nietzsches out there thinking, saying, and writing profound stuff about the nature of people since our kind developed the capacity to think, say and write things, you may not have had the occasion to stumble across Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism- Laozi. When you spend a lifetime in deep contemplation of mankind like ole Laozi did, you’re bound to realize inescapable, undeniable, and unflattering truths about human nature from time to time...to time.
Laozi did.
Laozi communicated our less admirable proclivities in a way that only a guy who starts his own religion can.
When you’re that guy people assume that you're both wise and well intentioned. In turn, this gives the Laozi’s out there carte blanche to say the things the rest of us can’t (at least it did back in 5BC). Laozi is that one friend who can tell us when we’re being dicks without making us feel like we are dicks.
He has a couple “Dr. Suess-y” offerings like, “He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.” (Anyone but me got a craving for green eggs and ham?)
There are also examples of the confounding, seemingly nonsensical, circular logic characteristic of philosophical rumination by the very nature of philosophical rumination, “The wise man knows what he does not know.” (Does this mean that I’m wise? I can’t tell….which is probably a strong indicator.)
There is one insight into our primordial nature that should be considered and embraced by every organization and every leader aspiring to fully, authentically and consistently leverage the extraordinary power and potential of their employees.
“People are not against you; they are for themselves.”
With just these 9 words Laozi nails us and gives CEOs, HR teams, managers, supervisors, and people leaders everything they need to begin building their own high performing teams and world class organizational cultures... IF they're first willing to accept and then leverage the somewhat disconcerting truth of his observation.
He acknowledges the fact that we are not innately inclined to conspire or aspire to harm, abuse, derail or otherwise disrupt the prospects or wellness of others. In fact, with this statement he intimates that those among us who are inclined to seek to use others as a means to their own end are the exception to our nature-not the rule. We can all find some comfort and reason for cautious optimism in that.
Here comes the, “No offense…but” part of Laozi’s statement.
While Laozi tells us that we are not, by nature, inclined to work against each other, he follows this up by stating that we are hardwired to think and act in our own interests. To paraphrase Laozi’s conclusion, if it comes down to us or someone else, we’ll do everything we can to make sure it’s us every time.
He acknowledges the foundational, though not necessarily pernicious, nature of our self-interest. Simply put, other people are not among our top priorities. More often than not, they don't even make the list and even if they do from time to time, they certainly never take the top spot. We reserve that for ourselves.
Further, Laozi’s intimates the primary motivating factor influencing human existence (all existence really) since there was such a thing, life itself, is and always will be a competition between us and everything else that wants the things that we want and needs the things we need. Human nature is never more transparent, undeniable or terrifying then when demand is greater than supply.
How does any of this apply in the workplace?
Without the organization’s leaders clearly and consistently defining roles, expectations, responsibilities, what success is, how success is achieved, without leaders and co-workers holding one another accountable to the rules of the game (it's a competition so by default - it's a game), employees will compete against each other in their own interest more blatantly and with increased frequency to the escalating detriment of the company.
Eventually this internal competition for the resources perceived as necessary for individual survival, embeds in an organization’s culture insidiously consuming its explicit values then regurgitating them in the form of a tart and sticky fluid that is corporate propaganda.
Corporate values and mission statements adorning the walls of every meeting room, hallways, email signature and promo T-shirt are no longer recognizable becoming irrelevant monuments to the hypocrisy of the organization’s leaders. When the survival of the individual takes precedent over the interest of the organization the workplace becomes inauthentic, political, toxic and siloed as employees do what cavemen did to mitigate the potential for outside threats- band together to improve their chance of survival by seeking safety in numbers (the second thing on the list of our primordial instincts just below us- survival of our in-group).
This thinking and these behaviors in effect reduce the experience, knowledge, and potential of 5,000 employees to that of 50, 25, 10..... When personal interest is attached to tribal interest as opposed to the organization, the whole of the company’s workforce is no longer greater than the sum of its parts.
There is an opportunity in all of this for organizations willing to think and act differently. The secret sauce in the recipe of high performing groups of people is the ability of leaders to embrace and align the innate self-interest of employees with the best interest of the organization.
No matter how hard or how well organizations, HR teams and leaders try to hide it, how many times they deny it, how much they wish it was otherwise- nature dictates employees will remain terminally in competition with each other for resources. They will constantly seek indicators to clarify what to do and how in order to win the competition.
If you're a manager talking shit amongst your peers about your employee's behavior, blaming Linda for always coming in late, tired of Jennifer and her chronic negativity, sick of Devon and his finger pointing, pissed at Katy for her procrastination…or whoever for whatever…remember -YOU DID THAT. All of it.