Barack Obama, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffmann & Narcissism in Business

LinkedInFounders Reid Hoffmann talks about rapid company growth, and shortly afterwards Barack Obama talks about responsible corporate management. What is going wrong in our system - and what can we do about it?

Barack Obama and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffmann on the transformation of the economy

Just a few minutes before Barack Obama speaks at Bits & Pretzels about responsible, sustainable entrepreneurship, but also about the need for state regulation, the prominent LinkedIn founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffmann is sitting there.

Reid Hoffmann was for me so far rather positively occupied, and if it is because I remember the very exciting interview, that I with his Co-founder Konstantin Guericke led about hiking meetings and trust a few years ago. Reid Hoffmann, meanwhile, has a different topic today: blitscaling. companies must fast grow because only when they achieve market dominance can they successfully be. Or to put it crudely: economic growth at any price.

Greta Thunberg and the rapid growth in the tech scene

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That yourself Employees about bad management or customers complained about the lousy service, the company shouldn't care in this growth phase until the competition has been defeated. But then, as a company, you also have to take care of these issues – as we are doing at Facebook see the after exactly this Pattern had grown up. And Hoffmann said: “Entrepreneurs always want more time. But speed is always part of the competition.”

Now you can see this attitude, which is widespread in the start-up and tech scene, especially in relation to climate change criticize – which Barack Obama did shortly afterwards and praised Greta Thunberg, his Opinions after doing incredible things.

The Thelano case and the question: “How healthy is our economy?”

But at least he sees it as ruthless as it sounds sympathisch Acting Hoffmann then not the matter: When asked about the fraud scandal of the blood test company Thelanos, Hoffmann noted that deliberate deception then went a little too far - and spoke of lightning failure.

Who healthy is this mindset, I was allowed to say a few days later in the face of a lecture by Dr. Bärbel Wardetzki at a conference on “Economy and spirituality” in Kirchzarten near Freiburg.

Abuse of power in the economy and narcissism

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Her topic was power abuse in the economy and narcissism. For the graduate psychologist from Munich, our entire economic system is based on narcissistic structures. This affects both the system itself and those working there.

A distinction must be made between healthy narcissism, which gives energy, drives us to action and strengthens our assertiveness, and pathological, deficient narcissism, which is caused by too little self-confidence arise. In between there is a wide range of different characteristics, which vary greatly from person to person.

The desire to be seen: Healthy vs. Deficient narcissism

In fact, the desire to be seen is essential to the People. Our self-esteem needs the view of others and so the human psyche only develops in exchange with the outside world and as a reaction to what it throws at usspiegelt. While in the past only rulers and the powerful could live out their narcissism unchecked, today this is possible for everyone and is even promoted by social media. Therefore, the problem has moved more into our consciousness.

According to Wardetzki, deficient narcissism arises when one’s own self-esteem is hurt too much, especially during childhood: someone who is constantly given the feeling of not being accepted for who they are, but conforming to their own parents’ ideals, some of which are exaggerated develops a narcissistic façade as a reaction to this, which later also makes closeness in social relationships more difficult Anxiety, someone might look behind and see you as inferior.

Dehumanized economy favors narcissism

While people with a healthy self-confidence can accept other opinions because these have nothing to do with their own values, deficient narcissists become rabid at this point and lust for power Criticism to devalue surround themselves with yes-sayers.

It is therefore, according to the psychologist, no wonder if our current economic system narcissists offers the ideal habitat. Because the decoupling of the economic from the human is an essential narcissistic factor.

The problem of the self-isolated banking system

As an example, Wardetzki calls the former investment banker Rainer Voss, who reports of the self-contained banking world, in which one does not concern the outside world anymore. And only then could bankers do their job at all.

The problem with this: If everything is reduced to utility, interest, profit and added value, then we decouple the economy from the common good and thus from people. The narcissistic excesses lead to greed, immorality and personal enrichment Costs another.

DM founder Götz Werner: “You only earn money when others work for you”

How deep this way of thinking in our Society is rooted, shows for me a statement by the DM founder Götz Werner, who is known as a philanthropist, a few years ago at the re:publica. A sentence uttered during a lecture that has burned itself into my memory like no other: “You can only Money to earn, when others work for you,” said Werner, and for me he circumscribes the core problem of our capitalist economic system.

How can one Solution look out of this dilemma? How can we as a society with such a system still manage the upcoming Problems, of which I consider climate change to be the largest and most important?

Problem solving through motivational incentives

The right incentives to Motivation could be an important factor: Away from the bonus mentality that prevails in many companies towards socially more meaningful motivators. Studies at New York University and London Business School show that intrinsic Factors are often more important for motivation than external incentives.

This is especially so in the non-profit sector, where there is comparatively little money. This is where the big, connecting social-ecological one comes into play Idea or building a common Company like the carrot in front of your nose. The bigger and more important the idea, the more effort is required and the less money is paid.

Acting like Greta Thunberg

For qualified psychologist Wardetzki, internal and external change must always Hand go hand in hand. “Go to the Welt and acts,” she said, referring to Greta Thunberg, because “everything we do is a model for others.” And: You can definitely be narcissistic Energy use to get things moving. The only question is whether you use them for the good of society and become a role model or for destructiveness.

That's why you always have to ask yourself whether you're not exaggerating. In addition, one has to accept that systems do not change so quickly, but often take several decades. Therefore, we also have to be careful not to let ourselves be blinded by narcissists who promise short-term solutions, but only for their own benefit Head to have.

Suggested solutions by Reid Hoffmann and Barack Obama

After all, active action is the motto of LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffmann and ex-President Barack Obama. For both, the solutions lie, for example, in suitable environmental technology. While Obama is about water filtration companies a large Future prophesied, Hoffmann sees the problem more in an anti-technology attitude:

“Especially the science fiction films since the 70s have made many people very afraid of Technology caused. This is where Hollywood comes in with new stories that show how to get along Technology can solve problems."

Responsible leadership: hope of the startup scene?

And in the startup scene too, hope for our economic system seems to be slowly thriving: Immediately before Obama's appearance, various founders presented their sustainable projects, e.g. Das Team by Open Bionics, which wants to turn handicaps into superpower with Hero Arms. Or Elsa Bernadotte with her Karma Surplus Food App, to whom you can pass on excess food. Or Zarah Bruhn, who with Social Bee offers a kind of temporary work for refugees.

The motto: New waysto do good business. Founder Bruhn stated: “Social entrepreneurs are not naïve. We may not make a profit, but we change lives. Dr. Frank Niedersländer, CEO of the BMW Foundation, stated: "All founders should be responsible leaders . Sinn can also mislead, so can artificial Intelligence eg elections manipulate. But responsibility is one attitude. "

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