Kristin Wong likely has classmates and friends who envy her successes as a writer, just as animal health pros may feel jealousy or envy as colleagues receive honors, awards or get jobs they aspire to. Animal health has always been competitive at the DVM level. Competition is evident in manufacturers, suppliers and distributors and is now accentuated by mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations.
Wong writes about jealousy as part of the human experience and suggests it may even be an evolutionary survival mechanism. There’s an important difference between jealousy and envy. Both can be nasty, but with a little self-awareness, you can keep them in check. Better yet, use them to your advantage.
Source: The Cut, January 29, 2018.
We tend to use the terms jealousy and envy synonymously, but there’s a distinct difference between the two, and jealousy leans more toward scarcity, writes Wong. We feel envious when someone has something we want; we feel jealous when we’re afraid of losing what we already have.
She continues to address the topic in these categories:
- Understand how jealousy works
- Use envy as a motivator
- Recognize the symptoms of envy
- Don’t feel bad about feeling jealous
- Try reaching out to the people you’re jealous of
- Ask for help.
INSIGHTS: This is a highly relevant for animal health pros. Take time to read and think about Wong’s perspective. We face increasing different generational dynamics, gender empowerment issues and the ever-present “us vs. them” business competition. With some collective work, we can create more positive discussions than perpetuate negative emotions.