Altruism furthers Self-Interest

Human beings are driven by self-interest . We make the choices that give us the best possible advantage, given the circumstances we face. In fact evolutionary psychologists say that even altruism is a form of furthering ones self-interest , be it feeding our deep emotions or gaining popularity. Hence, we could go on waxing eloquently on the need for leaders to be selfless, but the fact still remains that we are hardwired to pursue our self-interests .

To top it the decades of underdevelopment and scarcity that our nation has gone through adds on to our insecurity. So, it is not too surprising to see many of our leaders insensitive to most events around — except when they feel that they can derive a direct benefit out of it.

But it is in the self-interest of leaders to be empathetic — not only from a moralistic or what-is-right point of view, but also from a pure utility and rational perspective. Leaders gain immensely in the short term as well as long term, if they remain open to people and their emotions. A good example of this is Rudy Giuliani, who as the Mayor of New York City played a key role in the response to the 9/11 attack.

Prior to the terrorist attacks , Giuliani was perceived by many as a divisive and combative politician, who frequently made enemies of minority leaders or those whose political or social views differed from his own. No one would have really minded even if he were to just perform what his job demanded — being a back stage operator. But Giuliani rose to the occasion.

He was out there coordinating the response of various city departments while organising the support of state and federal authorities for the World Trade Center site, for city-wide anti-terrorist measures, and for restoration of destroyed infrastructure. He empathised, reassured and more importantly stood with his people, in body and spirit. In his public statements, Giuliani mirrored the emotions of New Yorkers after the attacks: shock, sadness, anger, resolution to rebuild, and the desire for justice to be done to those responsible.

Giuliani later said that “I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most workers... I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I’m one of them.” By doing so, Giuliani fell on the right side of moral expectations, but also consciously or unconsciously furthered his self-interest.

He was widely praised for his close involvement with the rescue and recovery efforts. When polled just six weeks after the attack he received a 79% approval rating among New York City voters, a dramatic increase over the 36% rating he had received a year earlier — a long 7 years into his administration. Now, to really drive this leadership point home, all that we need to do is to compare the fate of some of our politicians after what our nation went through recently.

Leadership Takeaway:
Being empathetic is not only the morally right thing to do, but eventually also is in the self-interest of the leader.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/Corporate-Dossier/Altruism-furthers-self-interest/articleshow/4198473.cms