When Andrew Grove, chairman and CEO of Intel, was voted as Time magazine`s Man of the Year, he was described a couple of times in the article in terms of having paranoid characteristics. Although too much paranoia can certainly make at person`s life a complete misery, it may very well be one of the sought-after business characteristics of this millennium.
Paranoia is good in moderation but can be extremely detrimental in excessive amounts.
Jill Hamlyn, MD of The People Business
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines paranoia in two ways, one as a mental disorder characterised by delusions of persecution, the other as an "abnormal tendency to mistrust or suspect others".
It could almost go without saying that too much paranoia is obviously detrimental to the life and work of a person. A smidgen of paranoia in the workplace, however, could very well give the edge in business that leads to success.
Does this mean that nobody should be trusted and everybody should be suspected of doing something bad?
Not necessarily. People can be trusted to a large extent and not everybody does bad things. However, there is some information that should be kept close to your chest. It is simply good business practice not to give away your advantage indiscriminately. It is a competitive world and businesses that have a novel idea, or a fresh take on an old idea, tend not to make this public knowledge until some checks and balances have been put into place to protect the source or origin of the strategy. This is prudent.
A slight paranoia in the business world takes the form of suspecting that others may arrive at the same ideas or conclusions as you at around the same time, or that some brighter, fresher, newer and better concept is just about to overtake you. Rather than being debilitating, the smallest amount of paranoia around these suspicions is the impetus that can galvanise a person into action to put their idea out there first, or to make sure that new takes on old ideas are more innovative than those of the competition.
Controlled paranoia
Suspiciousness is also not that detrimental in small doses. The concept of George Orwell`s `Big Brother` may very well be true. Someone may always be watching us, our conduct and our performance at work. Suspecting this, performance and conduct can be kept in the clear and the very highest level of performance can be reached.
The trick in paranoia at work is in controlling it. It is good in moderation but can be extremely detrimental in excessive amounts.
Healthy paranoia is simply the continual assessing of the business environment and the occasional glance over the shoulder to make sure that nobody is going to take you by surprise. It is a state of anticipation and readiness to deal with anything that may come your way, good or bad.
However, if there is suspicion that everybody is out to get you, this can be viewed in one of two ways. Taking a negative viewpoint, this could be paranoia gone too far.
A more irreverent take on the situation is that people may very well be out to get you, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. It may mean that you have arrived and that those who are gunning for you are simply displaying crab-like characteristics and wanting to pull you back down into the bucket with them. So the idea that others are out to get you may simply be a reflection on your status.
However it is looked at, paranoia can be an asset in the workplace if it is used in small doses. Used in the correct way, it is a big advantage and can be the edge that separates the winners from the also-rans.
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