The Tea Time Traveler — 310 — IGCo and Don Goodman
Frank sits at his desk in the studio, he is looking out the window and listening to the song “Am Fenster” from the Eastern German Band “City”. That’s a while back.
He takes a sip of his tea, earl grey, 2 drops of honey and two teaspoons of half and half.
“Interesting times these days”. There is a name that comes to his mind over and over during the last few days, “Don Goodman” CEO of Industry Group Colour.
Don (everybody goes by her or his first name) joined IGCo a couple of years back as the regional president for South Africa.
Don continued his success with increasing revenue and achieving the quarterly and yearly financial targets. In addition, he has the charisma of a successful business man and can present IGCo’s vision and mission very clearly. Even a failure will become a great success and opportunity for future growth.
One of these challenges for Don was the loss of his right ear. He fell down the stairs on Christmas eve at a resort and cut his ear off at the rails, which led to severe internal damage. He lost the hearing on the right side and had to go through a sequence of surgeries and recovery procedures, including implanting of a cochlear, which was attached to the nerves that are connected to the eardrum. This was a very new procedure that recovered part of his hearing.
Don used this life changing event for the better.
Shortly after the incident, he became the sole CEO of IG Colour, which was a surprise as it is very unusual for an English Company to have a president from a former colony like South Africa.
He wrote a book “They made You the Boss, just do it” and excelled his career even further as his success continued.
The goals that he set were ambitious with the main target to triple the market capitalization of IGCo, and further excel the brand as a world leading company.
Although the financial success was undeniable, the customers had a few concerns regarding the ability of IGCo to listen to their business’ requirements. The customers noticed a lack of empathy.
Frank drifted into empathetic thinking.
How does a company lose empathy, how does an individual lose empathy?
Or is it sympathy that one is looking for? What’s the difference?
Frank took a long sip of his tea, that had just the perfect temperature.
He went to the library to get an encyclopedia from the 1990s. Frank usually trusts the internet when researching topics, however the printed words have something nostalgic and trustworthy. Like the book that found him in a thrift store last weekend: “The Young Wireless Operator: With the U.S. Secret Service” by Lewis E Theiss. A great story, written in 1926 near the place he lives.
The journey to the library was disappointing. Neither empathy nor sympathy was listed. Frank questions the 20 bucks he invested during a used book sale in the encyclopedia with 20 volumes from 1992. He is laughing, maybe empathy and sympathy were not that big of a deal back then, as humans still had these emotional capacities.
Back online to Wikipedia, Merriam-Webster and other sources.
“Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other person’s frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another’s position.”
“Sympathy is the perception, understanding, and reaction to the distress or need of another life form. This empathic concern is driven by a switch in viewpoint, from a personal perspective to the perspective of another group or individual who is in need.”
That may be one way to see it.
Frank feels, being concerned about other people and trying to place oneself in their position, is very normal.
Why is this a problem these days?
For whom could this be a problem?
Who is “demanding” empathy? Maybe those who don’t have it, and they want empathy from someone else.
Psychopath and sociopath lack empathy and sympathy, however often they can fake it or demand it from their victims as part of Gaslighting and projection.
“Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is traditionally defined as a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, egotistical traits.”
“A Sociopath is a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.”
“Robot Sophia” is presented right now as a robot with artificial intelligence and human traits. For Frank, it shows many traits of a psychopath and he considers this a “thing” and “it”. Even if it is well versed in diversion to questions, gaslighting as well as socio- and psychopathic behavior.
“How can one lose the ability to be empathetic or sympathetic?”
Frank is changing the question: “What is required to be empathetic or sympathetic?”
The robot Sophia is extremely logical, connected to incredible computing power and artificial intelligence. Like Frank, it has access to all the information in the world via the internet.
What is missing in this robot?
A soul? A Heart? A Pineal Gland? A Prefrontal Cortex?
All the above?
The prefrontal cortex has been considered the core area in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior.
That could be a close one.
The pineal gland produces melatonin, which modulates sleep patterns in both circadian and seasonal cycles. Some consider this the “third eye” with access to the universe.
The robot named Sophia has neither.
How about humans?
Biophysical they have the prefrontal cortex, pineal gland and a heart. The existence of the soul is up for discussion or acceptance of evidence thereof.
The question is: are all humans capable to use these organs and parts of the brain?
The heart keeps pumping until it stops, which has fatal consequences in most cases.
There are rumors that the pineal gland’s activities can be reduced by fluorides, like in drinking water or tooth paste. Some consider this conspiracy theory.
What about the prefrontal cortex?
The word lobotomy comes to Frank’s mind. It consists of cutting or scraping away most of the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain. The procedure can be performed through a hole in the skull or in certain cases through the eye, which would leave the patient with a temporary black eye if the procedure is performed successful.
What would be the consequences of a lobotomy?
Limitations in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior. Frontal lobe disorders may be recognized through a sudden and dramatic change in a person’s personality, for example with loss of social awareness, disinhibition, emotional instability, irritability or impulsiveness.
Could this explain sociopathic or psychopathic behavior?
Maybe even malignant narcissism? The certainty to become the ruler of the world and to win over all others who are on the track to rule the world.
Frontal lobe disorder could be triggered by lobotomy or strong physical external impact. Another cause can be a traumatic event that often results in severe changes of thinking and behavioral patterns as symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Some of the symptoms can be managed and it is possible to “reprogram” the memories of the traumatic event, although they may snap back, when similar events are presented to the victims.
A very wide reaching topic.
Luckily this all is unrelated to Don Goodman. Don is a very nice guy and an extremely caring business man. The shareholders love Don and so do the customers and employees as he wants the best for all of them
Frank finishes his cup of tea. 4 PM and the street is getting busy as the offices close and the worker bees are on their way back to their hive. Frank is going back to the library to look for more words that are missing in the encyclopedia.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
