Methinks excellence shall inevitably be punished.
How very disheartening.
In mid-1660’s France, there lived two very vain men … Nicolas Fouquet, and King Louis XIV. Both loved money, and ostentation, and spectacle, but only one could punish the other for his preference.
Bit of a backstory: someone high up in the king’s cabinet died, and Mr. Fouquet wanted to demonstrate his loyalty and fealty to Louis XIV – and secure the recently-vacated position – by throwing a bomb-@ss party, each stage of the celebration more lavish that the last, and all the invitees claimed it was the best and most glamorous affair ever … so very fire.
Reportedly, Moliére wrote and performed a play specifically for the event.
The next day, Louis XIV ordered Mr. Fouquet arrested for embezzlement and spent the last years of his life locked in solitary confinement at France’s most remote prison.
Rather than establish his loyalty and love for the king, Mr. Fouquet committed the unforgivable act of triggering the king’s insecurity – “They liked his party better than mine!” – and thus Darling Nicky had to go.
The lesson? Those with/in power are ever fearful of losing it … never “unbalance the master’s sense of self” … do not “poke holes in his vanity” … or ever “make him doubt his preeminence.”
Despite the fact that they may suck.
Which explains a lot of workplace sabotage and intellectual theft.
That supervisor who claimed your idea as their own? Yeah, that.
Landed the biggest account but get reassigned to other clients? Yeah, that.
Constantly praised on work product yet consistently denied promotion? Yeah, that.
Bob Morton broke the #1 Rule of Power, and in front of the Ol’ Man, too. Sheesh.
Dick Jones was a bit extreme but, nonetheless, served as a perfect example. “B!tches leave.” Indeed.
Funny tho’? Less than 40 years later, ED-209 is our reality. Robotdogs are armed in China.
Anyhoo, Galileo (b.1564 – d.1642) was possessed of an … “astronomical” (hee-yuk) brilliance in so many more ways than just those for which he is applauded. Considered the progenitor of the scientific method, Galileo was begging for patronage scraps during his early scientific exploits / as was common during his era … the really, really smart had to rely on the beneficent whims of the really, really rich, and were oftentimes paid in gifts rather than money. Galileo found his solution in vanity.
The Medicis had selected planet Jupiter as the symbol for the family dynasty. Galileo discovered the four moons of the gas giant, and commissioned an emblem with Jupiter sitting atop a cloud encircled by the four moons, representing the four Medici brothers, thus appealing to the lofty conceit and essential narcissism of a debased familial cabal. And getting paid in the process by securing an appointment and a permanent paycheck as the official mathematician for Cosimo II, the head of the family. Delightful.
“Do not outshine the master; rather, make the master outshine all others,” … and “discreet flattery” is more effective than overt obsequiousness … sucking up has its limits. To achieve power, and limit its negative effect against you, enable the master to shine more brilliantly in the face of others.
Dim your light, and allow the master’s to shine.
Blecch.