I have observed quite often a strange phenomenon where some humble and meek people become transformed into angry, antagonistic, overtly hostile people once they figure out a way to make money and feel more powerful.
This has been very interesting to me:
• Could they finally be showing their true color and feel they no longer need to watch their tone with others?
• Could it be the outside difficult environment caving in on them as they continue to grow?
• Could it be that they have too much to do and not enough time?
• Could it be that they are doing something unethical and are self-imploding?
• Could it be that they feel superior to others so they are getting annoyed and impatient?
It seems that as they grow their wealth, they perceive themselves as special and holy to a point where many of them drop the social front of kindness and grace to succumb to an inflated ego and a magnified sense of righteousness and self-importance.
You must have run into someone suffering from this behavior. Even their sense of judgment becomes skewed:
• If others are kind to them, they easily mistake kindness for weakness.
• If others seem to struggle, they get annoyed at them as if they forgot how they there in the first place.
• They have less and less compassion and mercy.
Success comes from the trifecta of force, intelligence and great timing. But each must be tempered against the other or one exhibits an imbalance of character and personality that will cause his/her inevitable demise.
No one is an island and success is achieved through collaborative work. So if you think being tough and demanding is the only way to go, and you can now impose your will without agreement, affinity and good communication skills, you will soon realize that you will meet jealousy, competition and opposition from others.
Maybe people think someone like Trump is nasty all day long and that is the cause of his success. Well, you can be whoever you want to be and pay the price.
I submit that Trump could’ve been a lot more successful if he had a better approach. As I am sure he does with those who work with him.
I assure you, there is nothing wrong with being nice, open and respectful. You can follow the rules of doing the proper due diligence on people and projects before getting into anything instead of getting into a deal and then acting mad like hell!
You can accomplish the same if not more using the right style with the right people at the right time. If you look back at your own life, you will probably see that you only got in trouble when you got nasty with others. Try always the high road first and if that does not work, then by all means show your tough side, it is after all a necessary part of business dealings, but should never be the way you operate all the time.
I am always reminded of Socrates quote:
“Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy”