Devoted to exploitation and disrespect

Closed minds can exploit other people's goodwill, loyalty or trust without even trying. It's as if closed minds are designed to be abusive and disrespectful. While this may be good for survival in "Law of the Jungle" situations, it's deeply dysfunctional in our complex societies.

From a developmental perspective, closed minds are also very efficient. They are not encumbered by psychological complications like self respect or self confidence. Their self evaluations are extremely simplistic. Their self concepts are unrelated to others or any hidden talents, callings or gifts. All this makes it easy to show others disrespect. A closed mind does not give a second thought to taking advantage of others, exploiting their vulnerabilities or ridiculing their expectations of getting treated with compassion, understanding or caring.

From a managerial perspective, closed minds are easy to recruit and hire. They are haunted by insecurities which compel them to become dependent on employers. They are tormented by anxieties which necessitate clinging to others and seeking their approval. They conceive of themselves as unreliable which predisposes them to admire higher ups in the hierarchy. Closed minds appear very compliant, manageable and conformist. They don't dispute the abuses and disrespect that is occurring.

From a strategic perspective, closed minds regard customers, underlings and contractors as their enemies. They do a disservice to those who buy, deliver or support their goods and services. They cannot protect their supposed allies or look after their interests when situations deteriorate. We're seeing this pattern currently in health care, credit card services, higher ed, and state legislatures. The closed-minded efficient exploitation of situations necessitates lowering value, raising prices, punishing loyalty and dropping those most in need.

There's no solution to this systemic disservice at the level of management styles or corporate strategies. The problem is rooted at the level of vacant self respect. There's no concept in use for how to show respect to others or oneself. There's no ability to question the insanity of abusing, exploiting and debilitating those who should be getting served. There's no hesitation when showing flagrant disrespect to those respect is essential to success. That cognitive functionality only comes to open minds. The solution emerges by opening closed minds with other open minds.