Amy Chen’s intriguing LinkedIn question seems simple on the surface: (If you could change one thing, what would it be? #FixIt) But how do you choose from the tsunami of possibilities? Here’s one behavioral issue that may underlie a host of other “Fix-this-NOW’s”: A tendency to assign blame to others and to see oneself as a victim; of circumstance, a bad childhood, bad parents, bad bosses, the list is endless. A chronic sense of victimization feeds a worldview that justifies all sorts of reprehensible behaviors – from siblings that can’t forgive each other because “Mom loved you best” to new depths of negativity in politics to global instances of genocide. Justifiable anger likes to feed on itself – as depicted in the Native American story of Two Wolves. And while it may feel powerful to work ourselves into a froth over unfairness, unless we can look squarely and openly at our own contributions to the problem – we will be trapped in an endless cycle of blaming others and disempowering ourselves.”
