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"Nothing is as approved as mediocrity; the majority has established it and fixes it fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way." - Blaise Pascal

I hadn’t realised “tall poppy syndrome” was an Australian condition until doing a little research.   Apparently similar concepts do exist around the word but apparently they aren’t as pervasive as here in Australia.  (janteloven, or "Jante law", in Scandinavia, A kent yer faither in Scotland 'maaiveldcultuur' in Netherland and in some minority American communities).

What is it specifically?  The definition varies; the criticism of success, criticism of non-conformance and criticism of difference are probably the most common.  Perhaps even subtly it can be the lack of support or distancing of oneself from these things e.g. support the underdog, avoiding ‘out there’ people etc.  In some ways the broadness is great because it sums up a range of behaviours displayed for a range of reasons.  Unfortunately it makes it hard to pinpoint/identify.

The sadest part of this is that we all do it.... Have you ever noticed the lack of support when your at your highest... and the sudden rush when your not quite there.   And that only those closest to you are generally steady?   I don’t think it has as much to do with others perception of how much support you need.  The main reason I believe this is because of the happiness factor going along with the pattern.   Time and time again I’ve noticed people feel much better about themselves when others are struggling.   I suppose in some ways we should be thankful people do support when we need it, but why can’t we truly support and be happy for others regardless of their success and failures?

Another version... the unwillingness of people to form teams based on individual strengths to become succesful.   Over the years in I.T I have lost count of the people I know whom own thier own small business (alone) and reject the idea of joining together with others.  We don’t seem to be able to acknowledge that others may be able to contribute and better our success.   Underlings to stroke our egos seems to be what we prefer.

I think a lot of people refer to this syndrome as “politics”.  But politics is so vague and almost acceptable, it’s just condoning the behaviour.  Have another look, find that person/group of people holding the scythe.   This is not politcs, it’s just destructive bullying by the weak.  I’ve also seen this passed off as “personality conflicts”, just as easy and convenient as calling it politics but still just avoiding dealing with the issues in many cases I think.   The lesser your status in the group the harder it’s going to be to fight it.

On the plus side,  I think tall poppy syndrome has a flexible set point which is different in each group.   The set point is defined by our leaders and can be changed (if they have the strength).

So so called leaders...  where are you?

I wonder if what the correlation between tall poppy syndrome and Australia's managers (reported) poor leadership skills are?