Why Becoming an Alpha Male Again Scares Me
Some conversations abruptly remind you of who you used to be. It can be a sentence, or in my case, a single phrase that brings all of those memories flooding back — taking away any present moment awareness.
A colleague said to me one phrase recently:
“He’s an alpha male.”
The person I was in my early 20’s came back for a playdate in my head.
It was the person that used to humiliate charities that would come door-knocking at our startup for donations and who would then feel the need to embarrass the volunteer in front of all the staff. That person was wealthy, entitled, arrogant and had rock-bottom self-esteem.
He was an alpha male too.
My colleague suggested that if I wanted to take part in a business opportunity, I needed to play to this person’s alpha male persona.
“Yeah, tell him how he’s losing to his biggest competitor by not talking to you. That will spark his alpha male side again,” she said.
The look on my face said it all. All I wanted to do was get as far away from this alpha male as possible. Playing the alpha male game, as a former participant in the sport, was not an option that seemed like much fun.
