Pedestals are for statues, not people

Jul 27, 2021

The 2 Per-Specht-ives Podcast talks about crawling down from the pedestal in this week’s episode. Your father and son hosts, David and Joshua Specht, give you tips on how to take your blinders off when it comes to admiring others. 

Your generational lesson: Not putting people on a pedestal means you prioritize yourself, avoid feeling lied to if that person falters, and don’t develop resentment or negativity by comparing yourself to them.

Your Gen. X Advice: Because so much is expected of the person on a pedestal, it creates pressure to stay there. It causes leadership to keep secrets because they don’t want their image to suffer.

Your Gen. Z Advice: Putting people on a pedestal creates a conflict of self interest to where you’re setting the bar for other people and not setting it for yourself.

We have all found someone we admire so much that we start to feel he or she can do no wrong. Maybe it’s a person in a position of authority, someone we see who can help us, or just a person we enjoy being around.

But you need to keep that person off the pedestal. 

By recognizing the imperfections of a person you look up to, you can avoid feeling lied to when they make a mistake, the urge to ignore previously valuable advice from them, intimidated by their success, or resentful of their achievements.

In that spirit, here are some tips for taking off the blinders for Pedestal People:

1. Remind yourself that people are human and flawed. They’re not going to meet all of your expectations.
2. Don’t think someone has all the answers. Do your own research and figure things out for yourself.
3. Remember that the difference between the person at the bottom and the top of the pedestal is experience.
4. Recognize that people on a pedestal have an agenda...and you do too by engaging with them.
5. To the people on the pedestal — don’t be a jerk to those people who look up to you, don’t abuse your influence, and don’t believe you know more than someone not in your lane.