Do you have the messiah complex?

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David is a fine gentleman with a passion and drive for success. Graduate of an Ivy League university topped with an MBA from Stanford, he has impeccable credentials to boot. A workaholic with no respect for closing hours and perfectionist to the core, he was usually one of the first to arrive the office and the last to leave, sometimes having to sleep in the office. He sometimes even too files home! In his five years of working in the establishment, he only went on vacation once and for only two weeks. Even then, he was constantly in touch with the office almost on a daily basis.

But David had a problem. He hardly got along well with his subordinates. He was known and talked about as the boss who knew it all and believed that he was the only one who could do things better than anyone else. Even when he delegated tasks to his subordinates, he literally breathed down their necks and almost always told them what to do and how. Whenever anyone made a mistake, it was as if he was looking forward to it as a way of saying, “I knew you couldn’t handle it”. Instead of correcting or guiding the subordinate, he would hold his head in both his hands while facing down and exclaimed, “What is wrong with all of you? Must I do everything myself?” and promptly went ahead to execute the task himself, leaving the subordinate’s ego thoroughly deflated!

In time, his energy level began to drop. He visibly looked flustered and drained. But he kept soldiering on. One day, while at his desk, he collapsed and passed out. Thankfully, his secretary was on hand to arrange for his evacuation to the hospital. After necessary tests were done, apart from a rise in his blood pressure, his physiological parameters were fine. Diagnosis? Exhaustion consequent on oxidative stress! He was asked to stay off work for at least one month to recuperate. The company asked him to take two months off and gave him a ticket for a two-week overseas holiday! It was for him a rude awakening. Things went on very fine under his deputy who acted for him in the department he headed. The productivity level even soared and the company lost nothing! He returned a changed man. Unfortunately, in many establishments, there are David bosses!

David was suffering from a condition known as the Messiah Complex. According to Wikipedia, the Messiah Complex, also known as the Christ complex or savior complex, is “a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief that they are destined to become a savior today or in the near future. The term can also refer to a state of mind in which an individual believes that they are responsible for saving or assisting others.”

Although not officially listed as a psychiatric problem, the situation is usually manifested in people who have a psychiatric problem known as delusions of grandeur or those with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

How do you know if you as a leader (or anyone you know) have this problem? It begins with a perfectionist tendency that believes that you are the only one who can do a job with the level of perfection that you desire. Even when your own imperfection is obvious to the blind, you are blindsided by your own ego that continues to seek to draw attention to you as the only one with the silver bullet for solving any problem.

Consequently, you find it more convenient to criticize the performance of others than to compliment or praise them. This is deliberately done so that everyone can look up to you as the go-to person. You are ready with advice even when unsolicited. In putting yourself in everybody’s path, your relationship with friends, family and of course colleagues, takes a hit. While you think you are taking burdens off people, you actually begin to make them feel and look stupid and over time, they begin to resent you!

The Messiah Complex is a two-edged sword. It can be used for good or for evil depending on how you interpret and apply it. Using the acronym M.E.S.S.I.A.H, we will examine both sides of the coin because more often than not, if we look very deeply into a problem, the solution may be lurking somewhere inside it! Simply put, you can be a victim of the condition or use it to great advantage.

First, let us look at the negative side of the condition as typified by David’s unpleasant experience.

The Complex is usually typified by Micromanagement. Like David, a leader who manifests the condition usually does not like to let go of tasks even when he reluctantly has to delegate them to others. He wants to personally oversee everything and insists that he has to have an input in every process irrespective of how elementary the level. As a result, even if he owns a business, it cannot grow beyond his capacity because he doesn’t want to even consider the possibility of hiring someone smarter than him, in his delusion that it would demean his profile!

A micromanager is driven basically by his overblown and overrated Ego. With an elephantine ego bordering on megalomania, he loves to trade blames but loathes to share credit for success with team members. His desire to always be the focus of attention and adulation makes him a terrible team player. He cannot stand a subordinate having a dissenting opinion even when such is patently better than his own position. He feels demeaned when a team member tries to correct his position. When he brings a suggestion and the team unanimously goes against it because of a superior position, he begins to sulk and withdraws into his shell in the misguided belief that they will fail and ultimately will revert to him!

In his ill-advised self-importance, a leader who is suffering from this condition is usually Secretive and selective when it comes to information-sharing within his team. When he has information the application of which may not bring him direct acknowledgment or praise, he withholds it. Whenever he has to delegate a task, he usually does not give detailed instructions about outcomes and processes in a way that helps the delegate to perform seamlessly. He delegates but does not empower with all the information necessary for execution. This means that the delegate is constantly having to revert to him, a situation that makes it convenient for him to gloat!

When Davids delegate an assignment, they do so from the get-go on the platform of distrust. They are always Skeptical about the delegate’s ability to perform. In reality, they look forward to him failing! When they find what they consider an error in the delegate’s output, they simply go for the jugular and reinforce their own insecurity by making it known to the delegate that they knew he could not effectively handle the assignment. By the time they tell him what they expect him to do, the delegate’s ego and self-confidence are already battered! And the Davids love that! … continued.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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