# Appeasement and Self-Interest By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2022-09-20 Many things in business are unspoken. For example, a leader decides something should happen, gets everyone [[together]], and then assigns them the task. This isn't the unspoken part. The unspoken part is that everybody thinks it's a bad idea, doesn't say anything, and goes through the motions intending to do the minimum. This usually involves attending meetings and checking off things to do in the most mundane way possible. Astute employees will find ways of using the leader's initiative to propel their own agendas, which are also largely unspoken. Examples include an employee advocating a task in the spirit of the leader's objective but it primarily only serves them. Everyone sees what is happening, but no one, not even the leader, says otherwise. These unspoken things are all about appeasement. Appeasement has several interesting dynamics. First, appeasement is wired into our social way of working together. It makes sense that a group of individuals will each have their own objectives and opinions, but to achieve something everyone must at some point make a sacrifice. If no one yields, then there ceases to be a group. In fact, appeasement could be the main feature that defines a group. If people aren't willing to bend, then they aren't a group. This applies to both leaders and followers. Followers yield to leaders, and leaders must appease their followers if they want to continue being the leader. Even dictators and monarchs have to appease some individuals or they will likely meet an untimely end. As reasonable as this appeasement explanation seems, it also feels counter to how we culturally think about leadership and self-expression. Leaders are the ones who make the decisions, and individuals should express their [[beliefs]]. Capitalism is built on the idea that free markets and self-interest will improve the entirety of the whole. However, pragmatically we see the opposite of this wherever a group exists as not everyone can have it their way. Appeasement becomes an unspoken necessity in a culture where self-interest and top-down leadership are the primary operational [[paradigms]]. If not carefully examined, this creates apparent hypocrisy that will lead you down one of two paths. One path is the attempt to eliminate appeasement which will likely result in isolation and disappointment as it's not how society works. The other path is the attempt to change the self-interest culture. This change will not happen within your lifetime and may have many unintended [[Consequences]]. A third path is to embrace the paradox of the human condition and do your best to improve it with one eye on appeasement and another on self-interest. #### Related Items [[Self-Actualization]] [[Paradox]] [[Business]] [[Capitalism]] [[Decision-making]] [[Leadership]]