{"id":561,"date":"2008-08-18T10:23:49","date_gmt":"2008-08-18T14:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=561"},"modified":"2011-11-12T18:24:50","modified_gmt":"2011-11-12T23:24:50","slug":"issue-144-how-scoutmasters-can-lose-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2008\/08\/issue-144-how-scoutmasters-can-lose-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue 144 – How Scoutmasters Can “Lose It”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The main point Stanford University management professor Robert Sutton makes in his book, The No A**hole Rule<\/span>, is that although some people are jerks all the time, all of us are capable of turning into insufferable martinets under the right (wrong!) conditions. One of the key initiators of what I\u2019ll call The Jerk Syndrome is, according to professor Sutton, is the belief \u2013 real or imagined \u2013 that they have power over others. Although in Scouting we teach youth the concept of the servant-leader, sometimes we adults succumb to the bully-leader syndrome, and I\u2019m not using \u201cbully\u201d in the Teddy Roosevelt manner!<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t myth or fable. That power, or the perception of it, can turn folks into jerks has been known by homo sapiens since the first jerk with a bigger club than the rest walked semi-erect.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been documented in academic studies by professors Dachner Keltner and Deborah Gruenfeld at UC-Berkeley and Stanford, respectively, that the primary thing that happens when people are put in positions of power is that they start focusing more on satisfying their own needs than the needs of the group. The other thing that happens is that they begin to act as if \u201cthe rules\u201d no longer apply to them.<\/p>\n

This sounds like \u201cThe Scoutmaster-as-world\u2019s-oldest-Patrol-Leader\u201d to me! The guy\u2019s a great ASM, or a great Dad, or a great committee member, and then the mantle of Scoutmaster is placed on him, and he thinks it\u2019s an Olympian crown of olive or laurel leaves instead of a round piece of cloth with some colored threads on it. And he\u2019s off and running\u2026<\/p>\n

All of a sudden, he\u2019ll \u201cdecide\u201d whether a Scout as really earned that merit badge or not. He\u2019ll decide whether a Scout is living the Scout Oath and Law, even though he sees the youth for, at the absolute most, ten percent of the boy\u2019s time. He\u2019ll now decide who can earn which merit badge, what kind of contribution now qualifies for \u201cservice hours,\u201d who the next round of Patrol Leaders will be, what the troop\u2019s annual program will be, who\u2019s \u201cworthy\u201d of being an Eagle Scout and who\u2019s not, and on and on. It\u2019s as if \u201cScoutmaster\u201d worked like \u201cShazam\u201d and instantly gave him super-powers! And brother, is he gonna start usin\u2019 \u2018em! Where he once was fun and sensitive, and a helper and guide to youth, he\u2019s now a jerk. Worse, he now sees himself as omnipotent, and the troop committee better do his bidding!<\/p>\n

Is there a solution? Actually, there are two. The first and best is that the guy wakes up, takes heed of the problem, and rights his own ship. The second is the troop dumps him. There is no viable third option.<\/p>\n

For a parent who finds his or her son in such a troop, with an irredeemable jerk for a Scoutmaster, Professor Sutton\u2019s solution is the same as the one I\u2019ve recommended in these columns time after time: \u201cThe best thing to do is leave as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Happy Scouting!<\/p>\n

\n

Andy<\/h3>\n

\n<\/form>\n

Send your questions and comments to:<\/p>\n

AskAndyBSA@Yahoo.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

(August 18, 2008 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2008)<\/p>\n

Letters to AskAndy may be published at the discretion of the columnist and the editor. If you prefer to have your name or affiliation withheld from publication, please advise in your letter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The main point Stanford University management professor Robert Sutton makes in his book, The No A**hole Rule, is that although some people are jerks all the time, all of us are capable of turning into insufferable martinets under the right (wrong!) conditions. One of the key initiators of what I\u2019ll call The Jerk Syndrome is, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":693,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions\/693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}