The bloggers for this web page and authors of \u00a0<\/i>The A.B.C.s of Behavioral Forensics<\/a><\/em> (Wiley, 2013) argue that the motivations for fraud lie much deeper than the conventional wisdom\u2019s diagnosis, \u201cgreed.\u201d\u00a0 As a consulting psychiatrist, I fully endorse that argument.\u00a0 But I cannot dismiss the concept of greed as no more than a shallow excuse for wrongdoing among corporate fraudsters\u2014that seems like a cop out!<\/p>\n Greed, in its hydra-headed, multifarious forms, has become a \u201cclear and present\u201d danger to our society.\u00a0 My thoughts are triggered by two recent publications.\u00a0 One is Sherry Turkle\u2019s book,\u00a0Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age<\/a> <\/i>(Penguin Books, 2015).<\/i>\u00a0 The other is a David Brooks\u2019 column, The Evolution of Simplicity<\/i><\/a> (November 3, 2015), in The New York Times.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Turkle writes that people explain their \u201cinability\u201d to pay attention to friends, children, and even lovers by saying, \u201cI have to be on my phone and other devices [and] because I am so busy I don\u2019t have time to keep in touch with my friends.\u201d\u00a0 Brooks argues that in contrast with the simplicity movements of Thoreau[1]<\/a> and Holmes[2]<\/a>, today\u2019s yearnings for simplicity occur in a world of \u201crampant materialism and manifold opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n I believe both authors are referring to a greed that goes beyond money and is far more insidious.\u00a0 Psychologically, greed means you consume without gratification.\u00a0 Therefore, you are never satiated.\u00a0 Thus, you consume without satisfaction, or feeling you have had enough.\u00a0 You may feel pleasure, but you don\u2019t feel happy.<\/p>\n We have a society that does not know how to live in a state of abundance.\u00a0 Philosophers have been lauding abundance for decades, but they have not seen its dangers for people who don\u2019t know how to deal with it and who live in our consumer-oriented society.\u00a0 People today are immersed in constant manipulations of their inclinations (think marketing, advertising, product placement, even to children!.) to acquire more and more.\u00a0\u00a0But every \u201cyes\u201d is a thousand \u201cnos.\u201d\u00a0 For every opportunity we commit to, there are many more opportunities that are declined because we said “yes”. By saying “no” we are setting limits.<\/p>\n Few institutions teach people to set limits on their impulse to acquire things, experiences, friends, victories, accomplishments.\u00a0 To quite the contrary, self-help authors warn against being \u201ctoo negative,\u201d \u201cgood enough,\u201d and \u201cyes, but\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 These are notions that help us to set limits.\u00a0 But limits are seen as bad in society today.\u00a0 Without limits, humans become chaotic, exhausted, and The Self becomes fragmented.<\/i><\/p>\n The underlying problem here is indeed greed.<\/i>\u00a0 Nobel laureate Herbert Simon observed, \u201cA wealth of stimulus creates a poverty of attention.\u201d What Turkle misses in her book is that greed is what enables <\/i>social media to rob us of focused attention, solitude, the opportunity for self-reflection, empathy, conversation, and all the other human needs she so clearly describes as being lost because of technology.<\/p>\n Brooks\u2019 column brushes the surface of the issues, but it speaks to something else Turkle misses in her book—the deepest reason why people today sell their \u201csouls (integrated self, autonomy, empathy, and the other essentials of being human).\u201d\u00a0 He writes, \u201cOne of the troublesome things about today\u2019s simplicity movements is that they are often just alternate forms of consumption.\u00a0 Instead of stripping away the chaos, they refine it with a more \u201corganic, locally-grown and morally status-building form of materialism.\u201d<\/p>\n Greed, along with envy, is one of the seven deadly sins.\u00a0 Greed is even more primitive than envy and just as dangerous to the person and our society.\u00a0 If we are to balance work, family, and self, we must say, \u201cNo,\u201d frequently (setting limits), certainly more than saying, \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 Balance requires us to turn down things we want and even things we think we need.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a challenge for people who want balance:\u00a0 We\u2019ve had almost a century \u00a0of constant campaigning\u00a0to see \u201cyes\u201d as good and \u201cno\u201d as bad.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Glorifying consumption is an important component of capitalism and many people feel helpless to resist this pull (and onslaught).\u00a0 They don\u2019t even know that it\u2019s an issue for them.\u00a0 And to think about it as an issue makes them anxious.\u00a0 The personal challenge is that it\u2019s not just things that we are to consume.\u00a0 We are encouraged to \u201cgrab all the gusto we can get,\u201d \u201clive your dream,\u201d and become fulfilled.\u00a0 Hoping to become fulfilled, people unreflectively go after information, images, friends (who needs more than 500+ \u201cfriends,\u201d a la <\/i>Facebook and LinkedIn, let alone thousands?), admiration, love, attention, power, and, yes, money (which is seen as a resource for getting the other things).<\/p>\n It\u2019s important for leaders to address greed and the distractions of social media if they want to have productive meetings, loyal people, and problem solvers who can get to the real underlying problems (with their ability to focus, without distraction, beyond the surface and immediate issues to their causes).\u00a0 To say nothing of finding balance in their own lives.<\/p>\n Even if greed is not the exclusive cause of fraud it is still a very destructive human response. In significant ways people are conned by unrelenting stimulation of their most primitive motivation, greed. \u00a0That may not produce fraudsters but it does contribute to personal problems and sometimes even fraud.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Cf. Henry David Thoreau in Walden: \u201cOur life is frittered away by detail\u2026Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [2]<\/a> Cf. Oliver Wendell Holmes: \u201cI would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [3]<\/a> Consider the influence of the \u201caccentuate the positive\u201d movement of yesteryears. Indeed, \u00a0“Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” was a wildly popular song for which the music was written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer as far back as 1944. Sung with the fervor of a sermon, the obvious implication is that accentuating the positive is key to happiness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greed’s ties to Technology and Values (By guest blogger, Organizational Psychiatrist: David E. Morrison, M.D.) The bloggers for this web page and authors of \u00a0The A.B.C.s of Behavioral Forensics (Wiley, 2013) argue that the motivations for fraud lie much deeper than the conventional wisdom\u2019s diagnosis, \u201cgreed.\u201d\u00a0 As a consulting psychiatrist, I fully endorse that argument.\u00a0 … Continue reading Another Look at Greed<\/span> Every “yes” is a thousand “no”s.<\/h5>\n
Experiencing Greed, in the end, is miserable<\/h5>\n
How much is enough to be fulfilled?<\/h5>\n
David Morrison MD has advised industry and local governments for over forty years. His clients have included the professional service firms, such as Andersen, and other industries including banks, manufacturing, retail and technology. He has advised City Managers of the affluent Chicago North Shore on issues of greed and balance as well.<\/h6>\n
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