For those of you that don’t know, but still care, Arsene Wenger is the most successful coach in Arsenal Football Club’s history.
This fact alone lies at the centre of a malaise that threatens to rip the club apart. Some feel that the idea of sacking such an illustrious manager after all he has done for the club, to be utterly abhorrent.
Others say that he is living on past glories and should only be judged on his recent performances.
However for the purposes of this article we shall avoid that debate, because as ever I am interested in the psychology of the situation.
In particular I believe there are etymological factors at play here, that is to say; the language being used towards Wenger by the club’s hierarchy has led to a sustained period of learned helplessness.
The Architecture Of A Helpless Mind
Let us partake in a thought experiment together; imagine that you are a chef on a Caribbean cruise ship that is out at sea for many months at a time.
When you first join the crew, you are greeted with warmth and friendliness. In your first meeting with the captain, he tells you that he is excited to taste the new delights you have lined up for him. He tells you that they have been looking for an exciting chef, as the old one, though competent, was a bit boring.
The captain lets you know that he is fine with you taking a few culinary risks, he realises that in order for you to truly fulfil the potential of your creative genius, that you may have the odd slip up now and again.
You are left in no doubt that, well cooked, tasty food, using exotic methods and ingredients, whilst prepared with skill and panache is what is going to keep the captain, crew and passengers happy.
The ship leaves port and you get down to business, over the next 12 months you cook like you’ve never cooked before, and it is greatly appreciated.
Soon news spreads of your culinary delights, it is known far and wide that, whilst you may not be the best chef in the world, your food is definitely the most pleasing.
Each time you stop at a new island, you are given another award.
The captain is delighted with you, he feels vindicated in his decision to hire you. The ship is a small independent one, however it is rivalling the bigger more established ones and everybody is talking about what a great ship he has.
One day, as you are resting in your bunk, feeling the gentle rolling of the ship, and enjoying the fresh, tropical, salted air that is wafting through your sumptuous cabin. The captain comes in and gives you some exciting news.
He tells you that the ship has finally made it to the finals for World’s Best Ship, he is so excited because the ship has never made it past the last 16 before.
The finals will be judged purely on which ship has the best food, and you are going up against La Gran Barca, a huge ship that boasts a triple Michelin star chef.
On the final night, you cook your little heart out; you come up with a daring dish that is risky, but if it comes off you will surely win.
Unfortunately, you fall at the last hurdle, it is close, but no cigar.
The captain, whilst disappointed, is still upbeat, because you were the first ship from your region to make it, and he feels that you’ll be back, either next year or the year after.
. . .
OK, are you still with me? Let’s move onto part 2 of the thought experiment –
Now I want you to imagine, that even though you didn’t win the World’s Best Ship award, the fact that you got to the finals and ran a triple Michelin star chef so close, has attracted lots of investors and a few years after that final, your ship gets bought out.
A lot of changes happen in a short amount of time, first you get a new captain, you are a bit sad to see the old fella go, however the new guy seems nice.
You get lots of new elite crew members and your kitchen staff is just phenomenal now, you have men and women who have worked in the best restaurants all over the world, you feel sure that you are assembling a team that will win World’s Best Ship before too long.
Full of excitement, you leave your cabin, your feet pad on the soft plush carpet as you walk to the new captain’s room.
When you get there, he lays out his plans for you, he tells you that the ship is getting a refit, and for the first few years of his tenure, you will not be able to spend as much on kitchen staff and ingredients as you might want to.
This is because the big new shiny ship will cost a hell of a lot of money, and you need to pay back the loan before any major investment in the kitchen can happen.
He tells you that he understands that you may not be able to win trophies while this is happening, however as long as you keep cooking with style and flair he doesn’t mind.
The new captain tells you one other thing, he tells you that as long as you finish in the top four of the best ships in the region, you will be entered into the World’s Best Ship competition.
He lets you know in no uncertain terms, that the financial rewards from being entered into the contest, are more important than winning it.
At first, nothing much changes, you come second in the region for best ship, and you win a minor trophy.
The next year you do not add as many kitchen staff as you would like, however the captain tells you he is very happy with the second place you got in the regional competition, as that means you have the million-dollar bonus for getting into the World’s Best Ship contest.
In fact he is so happy, he gives you a bonus, and a pay rise for the next year.
Wow!
This goes on for several years, as long as you come at least 4th in the regionals, you are heavily rewarded the next year. Your new captain is so happy with you, that he even pays you in shares in the company.
Now you have a double financial incentive to come 4th and save as much money as possible. Before long, your passengers begin to notice the changes.
The ingredients you use in your meals are cheaper, and therefore are not as daring and exotic as they used to be. On top of that you replace your kitchen staff with personnel who aren’t as good as the old staff.
Eventually things begin to unravel, and your reputation as an amazing innovative chef has diminished.
The ship has a loyal group of followers who go on holiday with it every year, half of them want you to go, half believe you should stay.
None of this matters though because your success is no longer measured by their happiness, but by that of your captain. His good cheer is only affected by whether you manage to finish in fourth spot in the regionals.
Back To Reality
So the situation I have just invited you to explore with me, is essentially what has happened with Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
When the Austrian manager they called; The Professor joined Arsenal, the brief he was given was akin to; make us great again, try and win the league. To which he fulfilled beautifully, Wenger’s Arsenal won the league in his first full season. Which was the first time in eight years.
He then went on to inspire Arsenal to win the league and cup double, and completed an unprecedented season, whereby the team went the whole season unbeaten.
Then in around 2003, the club was sold to the American billionaire Stan Kroenke. Many around the club felt that it would be a great move for Arsenal.
Kroenke has various sports franchises in the United States, and it was thought that under his ownership and increased funds, the club would flourish.
Arsenal moved into a shiny new 60,000 seater stadium and we all waited with bated breath, waiting to witness a revolution that simply never came.
It quickly came apparent that Kroenke was not interested in investing money in players, rather he saw Arsenal as a great way to keep his fortune ticking over.
Every season of failure, Wenger was rewarded, Kroenke sent a very clear message, via his Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis; that winning trophies was not as important as finishing fourth in the league, and thus gaining entrance to the lucrative Champions League.
A Degree Of Success
It could be argued that Wenger hasn’t failed and that it just depends on your definition of success. However putting football aside for one second, Wenger’s story highlights what can happen when incentives are not properly managed.
Learned helplessness.
The definition of learned helplessness occurs where an animal (human or otherwise) endures repeatedly painful or otherwise aversive stimuli which it is unable to escape or avoid.
Put simply, if you treat someone badly for long enough, they start to believe that they are helpless, regardless of if you carry on treating them badly.
However this cannot be the full story, because the stimuli does not necessarily have to be adverse.
For instance, imagine a couple of rich parents who decide that their child will never want for anything and should never have to work in their lives.
In order to make this so, they set up a huge trust fund and employ an army of maids, butlers and nannies. This litany of helpers raise the child through to adulthood while not allowing him to lift a single finger.
Now imagine how this child would get on in the world, if after 30 years all of that help, it was suddenly taken away.
That person would ultimately be helpless, and they would have learned that through seemingly positive input.
Understanding Incentive
The kind of learned helplessness that we’ve explored in this article can happen very easily. This is because sometimes hindrance is cunningly disguised as help.
Hindrance can only really masquerade as helpfulness if incentives are not fully understood. It is of utmost importance if you don’t want to be a victim of learned helplessness.
Or worse still teach someone to be helpless, to understand the mechanics of incentive and how it works.
Because you are such a busy little bee, I’ll let you go for now, and in my next article I will fully dissect the anatomy of incentive in my next article.
HAVE YOU COME ACROSS THE PHENOMENON OF LEARNED HELPLESSNESS BEFORE? MAYBE YOU HAVE AND WEREN’T AWARE IT HAD A NAME. AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!