I can definitely see this happening. I've never gone insane (thankfully), but when I was younger I have at times gone overboard in trying to please the higher-ups.
It becomes a negative cycle, because you think you're going to blow them away so much with your effectiveness, that they are going to bring you into the boardroom and make you a co-executive of the company.
And when they don't, you just work harder and bring even smarter ideas to the table. And they still don't (they say "thanks", but they don't rearrange their whole world view and make you a key player in the company).
The fallacy is this -- you are waiting for other people to recognize your brillance and "crown" you. You may indeed be brilliant -- I'm not disputing that.
But you can't wait for someone to "crown" you. If you have what it takes to be a key player in a company, then start one (or at least, apply for jobs at that level). Whatever field you want to get in, go do stuff in it. This waiting for external validation is the flaw.
When the higher-ups start benefitting from the work of someone like this, the temptation is way too strong to simply keep the machine cranking as long as possible. And they know how they got into the positions of power they have -- they "went out and seized it", they didn't wait for someone to hand it to the because they deserved it.
So they wouldn't know how to "crown" someone even if they wanted to. The world just doesn't work that way (granted, with some few exceptions). There's no "process" for promoting someone 10 levels because you discovered they are brilliant.
Instead, those at the top took it upon themselves to say, "Hey, I belong at the top, and I'm going to insist on it." Some of them over-estimated themselves, and some didn't. But even the ones who really do belong at the top did not wait to be "crowned", but decided for themselves they belonged there.
At the heart of it is an irrational need for external validation before you pursue the rightful level for yourself.
It becomes a negative cycle, because you think you're going to blow them away so much with your effectiveness, that they are going to bring you into the boardroom and make you a co-executive of the company.
And when they don't, you just work harder and bring even smarter ideas to the table. And they still don't (they say "thanks", but they don't rearrange their whole world view and make you a key player in the company).
The fallacy is this -- you are waiting for other people to recognize your brillance and "crown" you. You may indeed be brilliant -- I'm not disputing that.
But you can't wait for someone to "crown" you. If you have what it takes to be a key player in a company, then start one (or at least, apply for jobs at that level). Whatever field you want to get in, go do stuff in it. This waiting for external validation is the flaw.
When the higher-ups start benefitting from the work of someone like this, the temptation is way too strong to simply keep the machine cranking as long as possible. And they know how they got into the positions of power they have -- they "went out and seized it", they didn't wait for someone to hand it to the because they deserved it.
So they wouldn't know how to "crown" someone even if they wanted to. The world just doesn't work that way (granted, with some few exceptions). There's no "process" for promoting someone 10 levels because you discovered they are brilliant.
Instead, those at the top took it upon themselves to say, "Hey, I belong at the top, and I'm going to insist on it." Some of them over-estimated themselves, and some didn't. But even the ones who really do belong at the top did not wait to be "crowned", but decided for themselves they belonged there.
At the heart of it is an irrational need for external validation before you pursue the rightful level for yourself.