Putting Yourself Out There: Talking Publicly About Your Weakness
The first move, yet just a start, towards improving interactions, trust and reputation
It’s difficult, as in very hard, to come to grips that we have a clear and significant behavior flaw that causes damage or destruction in other people’s lives.
Blind spots and ego dominant personalities are not parts of ourselves that we like to recognize, admit to ourselves, confess to others or seek thorough professional assistance to overcome.
Nick Cannon has gone years without doing any of it, until now.
The “entertainer, entrepreneur and father of 12… explained that he’d recently been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder,” reported Maiysha Kai at The Grio.
Cannon discussed it on his podcast with psychologist Cheyenne Bryant.
“It’s a spectrum and I think even it starts off with confidence, over-confidence, arrogance and that’s when you step into the space of narcissism,” Cannon said. “And in that there’s markers.”
He admits now that he sees those markers in himself, which the Mayo Clinic says includes, “taking advantage of others to get what you want, feelings of superiority, looking down on others and having difficulties managing emotions and behavior.”
Narcissism is a beast of a brain-and-behavior condition. It gets too easily dismissed and denied as being present, both by the individual and people around them. Those who exhibit it react aggressively when others question it or express their concerns that the behavior is harmful.
There is one school of thought that states that narcissism cannot be overcome while another one believes that improvement, while unlikely, is possible. Respect and self control in how we treat other people can’t become, and be, a chronic problem, if we value trust, connection and our best lives.
Trust gets shattered, a poor reputation becomes the first — and dominant — thought when people think about our name. This creates unwanted distance of different types between other people and us. Maybe we’re ok with it to a degree but certainly not always and to the extent that it becomes.
Cannon is, figuratively speaking, beginning to sober up to the impact of his behavior on other people and learning about how he is experienced, felt and judged.
It’s a positive step in the correct direction. It’s a start, yet only that, a start. What happens next and long term? How much will Cannon pursue improvement, as far as perseverance, consistency and success?
That will determine how much he personally develops, betters other people’s interactions and relationships with him and how much, if at all, he earns forgiveness, trust, desired connection and a better, healthier life.
This newsletter — Reputation Intelligence — is written by Michael Toebe, and is a product of Reputation Intelligence - Reputation Quality, a firm which helps individuals and organizations assure a greater peace of mind, provide stress relief through reliable decision analysis, consulting, advisory and communications.
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