🏁 Axios Finish Line: Insecurity

Plus: 5 clues | Thursday, February 16, 2023

Open in app View in browser     Axios Finish Line By Mike Allen, Erica Pandey and Jim VandeHei ·Feb 16, 2023 Feb 16, 2023 Axios CEO Jim VandeHei is in the house with his weekly column on life and leadership. Give him a piece of your mind: jim@axios.com. Smart Brevity™ count: 350 words ... 1½ mins. Copy editor: Amy Stern     1 big thing: The toxicity of deep insecurity Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   Nothing destroys more relationships, teams or companies than insecure people in power, Jim VandeHei writes. Why it matters: Beneath all bad motives, bad behavior and bad people — at work and in life — lurks deep and dangerous insecurity. It's an insidious form of cancer that spreads effortlessly — and quickly. A little insecurity is normal and healthy. It grounds and motivates us. I'm talking about insecurity so deep it shapes a person's character and decision-making. So many of the lessons I have learned the hard way came from watching profoundly insecure people do the wrong thing for the wrong reason. I wish this were a happy column about how not to be insecure. Take that up with your therapist — or parents. This is more about how to spot it — and flee: Selfishness. If your boss or colleagues are routinely focused on themselves, they have issues. If they do it persistently, they're unfixable. Smallness. Confident people don't do petty things, like talk smack about others or stir the pot. Insecure people marinate in that crap to shift focus away from their shortcomings. Bitterness. People who whine or wish ill on others are like the flu in an unventilated room. Their negativity is destined to spread and sap the energy of those around them. Loneliness. One telltale sign of the profoundly insecure is that they attract other insecure people — and repel confident, positive people. Don't let yourself get sucked into their misery. Meanness. Good people aren't asses. Insecure people often are. We all have bad days. But if someone seems like a bad person consistently, it's because they are one. The big picture: I wasted years of my life believing I could change insecure people. You can't. The best thing to do is ... run.     A message from Axios Looking for the perfect scoop?     Refer friends and family to Axios and enter to win a $25 Jeni's Ice Cream gift card. Bonus: Get more than five referrals and you'll also be entered to win a $250 Airbnb gift card. Now that's a sweet treat you can't pass up. Start referring today.     📷 1 for the road Photo: Brenda D. To send us into the holiday weekend, Finish Liner Brenda D. of Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, shares this sunset.   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: