The Problem with Creatives: When Malicious Envy Turns to Schadenfreude on the Job
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Creatives are equipped with a different lens, inviting them to see the world from a slant, offering up a novel view of problems and possibilities. Creatives, though dominantly present, are not restricted to the arts, but are found across all industries, their talents most identifiable in their approach to problem-solving (Mao, He, Yang, 2020).
For Creatives, problems are viewed as possibilities instead of obstructions, their internal compass leading them to explore unknown paths with vigor. These journeys tend to be wide and winding, spurring them to gather information across disciplines, up and down hierarchies, and traversing specialties to elicit divergent perspectives. Because Creatives operate with a high degree of personal agency, and their search is driven by the passion for the hunt, not an attempt at promotion and recognition, they remain unmoored to particular outcomes or constituents, allowing them to take intellectual risks and ask hard questions (Van de Ven, 2017).
Often coupled with high cognitive ability, Creatives have the tools to unearth hidden solutions, their loyalties solely dedicated to the process, not the status seekers. Such positioning makes Creatives invaluable members of work teams as they tackle problems and proffer solutions to roadblocks that have long hampered their institutions (Kim and Glomb, 2010).
Everyone, however, is not enthused by the Creatives’ momentum in moving the organization forward. Those whose roles and social power are dependent on maintaining the status quo will often try to blockade the Creatives’ progress and influence, feeling threatened by their disregard for the organization’s pecking order and tendency to highlight known problems others have stealthy kept covered to avoid hard conversations and controversy (Kim and Glomb, 2010). Inside these moments, where Creatives are shut out, genuine opportunities for camaraderie, teamwork, and admiration are lost as the dark side of envy takes hold (Greenier, 2021).
So what is envy and what does it have to do with Creatives’ experiences at work?
In some places, such as the Netherlands, there are multiple words for the concept of envy, the diversity of vocabulary offering a more nuanced definition of the construct; whereas, in places like the United States, where we are relegated to one word, envy tends to carry a negative connotation. But there is an upside to wanting what others have.
As researchers, we break the word envy down into two distinct definitions. There is benign envy, sometimes translated as admiration, which transpires when one person looks up to another, authentically valuing her character, tenacity, or talents. Benign envy often inspires the onlooker’s personal growth, as he attempts to emulate the one he admires, adopting the mindset that a rising tide lifts all boats. In contrast, there is malicious envy, which envelops the jealous party’s insecurities and turns them into rage, charging him to launch covert attacks in an attempt to eliminate the competition and lessen the cognitive dissonance creating an expansive gulf between who he wants to be and hopes to accomplish and his present reality (Braun, Aydin, Frey, & Peus, 2018).
It is malicious envy that transforms into schadenfreude, a German word made up of two nouns, schaden meaning damage and freude referring to joy. Schadenfreude is the phenomenon of taking pleasure in another’s pronounced pain. It is schadenfreude, instigated by malicious envy, that charges office bullies to use gossip, sabotage, and ostracization to damage the Creative’s reputation, devalue her accomplishments, and drive her out of the community so that she no longer serves as a threat to the bully’s self-worth and social power (Pheko, 2018; Van de Ven, 2017). It is also schadenfreude that poisons organizations, intoxicating work cultures with negativity, complacency, and unethical behaviors that stagnates the institution and drives the best players out.
However, all is not lost. Those in leadership positions have the power to right the ship by disbanding the mob, bonded by malicious envy or the hatred of the same people, and forming new connections based upon authentic partnerships centered around a shared benevolent purpose or mission that is greater than themselves. In this new culture of ethical leadership, Creatives feel safe to take the intellectual risks necessary to do transformative work. And witnessing their example, others join in, emulating the characteristics they most admire (Janssen, 2005).
Therefore, the problem with Creatives, need not be a problem at all, when organizations stand on a strong sense of mission and hire and support individuals who are motivated and equipped to engage in innovative work, unencumbered by selfish motives and status quo thinking, hence serving as an example to others who are ready to outgrow themselves.
Two Read
Two of my favorite reads this week were:
Can Envy Be Good for You? By Maria Konnikova
The Unnecessary Collateral Damage in the Misguided Reading Programs War by P.L. Thomas
Book Talk
This past week, I read Gabor Maté’s The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture. Publishers Weekly had this to say, “A sweeping analysis of the relationship between illness, trauma, and capitalism...Maté marshals an impressive amount of research to outline an original and persuasive vision of health focused on environmental influences and the interplay between the mind and body."
Writing Invitation
Get your daybook and reflect upon what constructs (relationships, behaviors, and interactions) in your life, whether it be at work or at home, have become normalized when in fact they are deeply hurting you and those caught in this altered reality.
Reach Out With Questions and Ideas
I love hearing from readers, so please reach out to say hello, ask questions, or suggest ideas for future articles ~ dorothysuskind@gmail.com
Sincerely ~ Dorothy (Who is now reading Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam)
PS ~ Participate in a Research Study on the Impact of Workplace Bullying on Belonging
After concluding a four-year, international, narrative inquiry study on the impact of bullying on innovation in the workplace, I have launched a new study exploring the impact of workplace bullying on one’s sense of belonging to their work community and themselves. If you would like to be part of the study and anonymously share your story of workplace abuse, please click on this LINK.
** (I have my university’s IRB approval to conduct this research)
Work Cited
Braun, S., Aydin, N., Frey, D., & Peus, C. (2018). Leader narcissism predicts malicious envy and supervisor-targeted counterproductive work behavior: Evidence from field and experimental research. Journal of Business Ethics, 151(3), 725–741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3224-5
Greenier, K. D. (2021). The roles of disliking, deservingness, and envy in predicting schadenfreude. Psychological Reports, 124(3), 1220–1236. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294120921358
Janssen, O. (2005). The joint impact of perceived influence and supervisor supportiveness on employee innovative behaviour. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78(4), 573–579.
Kim, E., & Glomb, T. M. (2010). Get smarty pants: cognitive ability, personality, and victimization. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(5), 889–901. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019985
Mao, Y., He, J., & Yang, D. (2020). The dark sides of engaging in creative processes: Coworker envy, workplace ostracism, and incivility. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 38(4), 1261–1281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-020-09707-z
Pheko, M. M. (2018). Rumors and gossip as tools of social undermining and social dominance in workplace bullying and mobbing practices: A closer look at perceived perpetrator motives. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 28(4), 449–465. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2017.1421111
Van de Ven, N. (2017). Envy and admiration: Emotion and motivation following upward social comparison. Cognition and Emotion, 31(1), 193–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1087972