INSTITUTIONAL NARCISSISM

[00:00:00]People think narcissism is vanity. It isn't. Vanity is only the surface.

[00:00:06]Narcissism is what happens when protecting an image becomes more important than contact with reality.

[00:00:14]And people do it.

[00:00:16]But systems do it, too.

[00:00:18]At first, it looks harmless. A press release, a slogan, a target, a statement.

[00:00:24]Then slowly, criticism becomes threat.

[00:00:28]Questions become disloyalty.

[00:00:32]Metrics replace lived experience.

[00:00:34]Explanation replaces ownership.

[00:00:37]And appearance becomes more important than outcomes.

[00:00:43]Not are people safe? Are people healthier?

[00:00:47]Are people flourishing? But how are we being perceived?

[00:00:53]What does the graph say?

[00:00:55]What does the headline say?

[00:00:58]What can we announce?

[00:01:01]And then something dangerous happens.

[00:01:04]Feedback stops being information.

[00:01:07]Feedback becomes insult.

[00:01:09]Because every challenge is experienced as an attack.

[00:01:14]Every concern becomes extremism.

[00:01:17]Every disagreement becomes ignorance.

[00:01:20]Every crack in the wall becomes unacceptable to acknowledge.

[00:01:25]So, the walls get painted again and again and again.

[00:01:31]Meanwhile, the foundations continue to move.

[00:01:35]Cuz institutional narcissism does not look like arrogance.

[00:01:40]It looks like protection from the accountability.

[00:01:44]The sea no longer visits the river to understand itself.

[00:01:48]It visits to admire its reflection.

[00:01:51]And eventually, it forgets the river was never there to praise it.

[00:01:56]It was there show it where the banks are.

[00:01:59]Performance asks, "How do we look?"

[00:02:02]Presence asks, "What is happening?"

[00:02:06]The moment a system can no longer tolerate feedback, it has already started to drift.