Two Perspectives That Get Us No Where

The Victim Mentality
My adverse circumstances are not my fault. 

When people believe that everything is happening to them and, as a result, they are not responsible for the outcome, they are living with the victim mentality.

Of course bad things happen to people (and companies) that may be beyond their control. But being a victim doesn't mean you have a victim mentality. The question is: What do you do next? 

Individuals can blame their companies for their problems. Companies may point to their staff or outside market forces as the reasons they can’t achieve their goals.

In the end, no matter how legitimate the reason for our current state, nothing will change if we don’t stop making excuses and take responsibility to fix the problem.
 

The Lottery Mentality
I will derive substantial benefit for little or no effort or investment. 

We sometimes expect people in our organizations to change culture, process, tools, job responsibilities, locations, and even industries while we make little or no investment in training, communication, resources, or troubleshooting.

It’s not uncommon for companies to look for low cost quick wins.  

They want to WOW investors today even if it means disappointing them tomorrow.

They're looking to win the innovation lottery!

What’s the antidote for these two perspectives?

Reflection, hard work, and personal accountability on all sides!

Note: The first person I saw to write about the “lottery mentality” was Tim Draayer of Live Your Best Life.

Comments

[Ellen Weber]

Interesting opposites here Ann. It's also interesting when victim thinkers adpt lottery thinking because of an event in their favor. It also seems to me that we each play each of the roles at times, and that, as you indicate - the key is to reflect. What do you feel most motivates folks to do that kind of accountable thinking? Ideas?

[ann michael]

Ellen - That's a really good question. I'm not sure of the motivation - some people reflect on their accountability when things are going horribly wrong, some reflect when things are going well.

I think that the issue here is remembering that taking a "reflective" inventory all the time (when you're satisfied and when you aren't) is the only way to keep yourself honest. Like exercise or eating right, it's something we should all do on a regular basis.