Success Sabotage: A Common Phenomenon

In our society, being successful means continually striving for greater achievements and rewards. It means constantly reaching new plateaus and dealing with new life stages. It may mean new challenges, new expectations, and meeting higher standards.

In short, being more successful implies leaving a predictable way of life and vaulting into a realm of the unknown and unanticipated changes. Though exciting and fulfilling, there are numbers of tradeoffs to the long list of benefits of success. It is not unusual for most people, at some point in their careers, to engage in "success avoidance" or "success sabotage," formerly called the “fear of success.”

This session will explore the success avoidance phenomenon, outline it’s dynamics, and offer suggestions for managing it. It will also talk about how it affects our interactions with our colleagues.