Wisdom In Leadership
By Les Mottosky
When we look deeply at how life works, the law of balance becomes undeniable.
Balance is built into all of our environments. Keystone species hold ecosystems together. For instance, if we remove sea otters the cascade hits: urchins explode, kelp forests vanish, fish lose homes, biodiversity crashes. One loss ripples into an unbalanced chain reaction.
This same balance exists in our interpersonal relationships.
Since the internet's cables slithered their way into our homes, the bizarre behaviour of trolling has emerged. An analogy for this activity is graffiti. Both include writing an anonymous message in the shadows without consequence. But there are consequences. And the price for trolling is more severe than pointing a spray paint can at some bricks.
The law of balance is an observable form of karma. This is most evident when we hurt another. Intentionally or accidentally. Whenever this happens – whenever we hurt somebody – we immediately feel it.
In the case of internet trolling that consequence is temporarily smothered by a rush of hormones and righteousness, but it's there. It emerges in prickly self-talk justifications and mentally repeating the vitriol pecked into the keyboard. The energy of those words cling like a weight to the psyche. But they most prominently, privately and honestly are felt by considering the coward in the mirror.
Does a troll like who they see when they look into their own eyes? Are they proud of their actions? Does addiction to the adrenalin-rush warp their self-perception? Can "being right" feel better than liking who you know yourself to be? It likely can. But only fleetingly.
Think of the last time you hurt someone. Intentionally or by accident. There's an instant sense of guilt. Empathetic pain is felt in the chest. Self esteem takes a hit. Regret grips the throat. A cloud of distrust enters the scene. From the other person and from ourselves. We don't feel the consequences first, but we will feel it. It's unavoidable.
When we ignore the law of balance, we don’t just harm others, we fracture ourselves. Every jab, lie, or careless act lodges in the nervous system like shrapnel. It dulls our capacity for empathy and replaces it with the cheap high of self-justification.
Internet trolls are mistaking stimulation for aliveness. But the two aren’t the same. One burns hot and fast; the other sustains.
Rebalancing starts the moment we stop outsourcing our conscience to algorithms and start noticing the subtle tremors of disconnection inside us. When we treat others as cells of the same grand organism we live in, balance returns. Not as morality, but as physics.
In the end, every system — biological, digital, or emotional — runs on the same silent code: what we take without care, we pay for in kind.
TAGS: #Wisdom In Leadership #Adaptation As Innovation #Radical Reframe #Cultural Creativity #Alignment Matters
Les Mottosky
Adaptation Strategist // I help organizations turn creativity into their competitive advantage by aligning leadership, culture and strategy to unlock adaptive innovations.
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