Feeding the Ego Monster: #2 of the Six Mistakes Smart Leaders Make

By Mike DuBose and Blake DuBose

 

As part of the research for our book The Art of Building a Great Business, we spoke to a number of local and national businesspeople about strategy, teams, leadership, and other topics. One person we interviewed was the human resources director of a large Columbia, SC-based company who had worked there for over three decades. According to this experienced professional, the main problem that he witnessed over those 30 years was “big egos” exhibited by the 10 presidents he worked with over that time period! We heard similar sentiments echoed time and time again over the course of our interviews.

Other business writers and researchers have reached similar conclusions on how dangerous self-absorbed leaders can prove to a company. In his bestselling book Good to Great, Jim Collins and his team found that, in more than two-thirds of the “comparison cases” they studied (as foils to great companies), there was “the presence of a gargantuan personal ego that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.” Likewise, in a recent Business Insider article, Vivian Giang reported, “It doesn’t matter how smart you are. Having too much ego isn’t good for you or anyone around you.” And in their book The Wisdom of Failure, Laurence Weinzimmer and Jim McConoughey point to “self-absorption” (manifested as narcissism, hubris, and arrogance) as the biggest problem behavior that leaders can exhibit.

During the interviews of high-profile executives that Weinzimmer and McConoughey conducted as the basis for their book, “almost 70 percent of the leaders we talked with believed that self-absorption was the most damning mistake a leader can make.” According to them, there are eight signs that indicate that a leader is exhibiting this problematic personality type:

 

• Talking big
• Sense of entitlement
• Lack of empathy for others
• Intense desire to win at all costs
• One-upmanship
• Know-it-all attitude
• Inability to listen
• Sense of infallibility

 

On the other side of the coin, the greatest leaders are humble and give credit and acknowledgement to their teams rather than taking it for themselves. Collins and his team identified “Level 5” leaders as a factor in propelling companies to greatness, explaining: “Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious—but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.”

 

However, many of those who strive to obtain leadership roles may have vastly different objectives. Often, individuals who want to boost their own egos seek out positions of power so they can gain the recognition and attention they crave. Such leaders will put their own interests in front of those of the business, making potentially disastrous mistakes when the right paths conflict with their egos or personal goals. Typically, they will also surround themselves with people who think and work like them—or “yes” men and women who agree with everything they say—so they are not faced with anyone who questions their ideas or actions. As most good leaders know, weighing different viewpoints and having healthy debates brings a wide variety of fresh ideas to the business and is extremely beneficial—so operating under one person’s self-absorbed belief system can have deadly consequences for the business!

 

Many smart people are complimented on their intelligence all of their lives. Having received good grades, test scores, awards, and accolades throughout their academic and business careers, they may become convinced that their ways and ideas are the best. Strong leadership, however, demands a questioning mind that examines a number of options before choosing the wisest. Even a genius can’t have the best ideas every time.

 

However, as Weinzimmer and McConoughey noted in The Wisdom of Failure, “Every self-absorbed leader believes he knows it all….and because he believes he knows it all, he is not receptive to alternative points of view, which amount to nothing more than challenges and threats to his ideas and to his sense of being.” If a leader is unwilling to consider that others’ thoughts might indeed be better than his or hers, that person will lose out on a wealth of potentially game-changing concepts. They can also underestimate major problems because they simply can’t imagine that their ideas or projects might fail, resulting in lost time, productivity, and money spent fixing the issue.

Although not quite as lethal as an out-of-control ego, at the other end of the humility spectrum, too little confidence in one’s self is also a potential problem. Columnist Francisco Dao described the importance of self-confidence to successful leadership thusly in an Inc. article: “Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows. Trying to teach leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of sand. It may have a nice coat of paint, but it is ultimately shaky at best.”

 

Leaders who lack self-confidence can be too nervous or insecure to make big decisions, leaving their companies treading water while they panic over potential paths to take. They’re not secure enough in their own judgment (or their staff’s abilities) to trust that they’ve made the right choice, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence and passion in staff, either. Of course, it’s smart not to pursue a bunch of crazy risks, but leaders must also be willing to heed the old adage “nothing ventured, nothing gained” and take some well-researched chances as well if they truly want to maximize their company’s success.

 

The bottom line: The “ego monster” is real! Leaders who put their needs before those of their organizations in a misguided attempt to boost their own egos are one of the biggest contributors to business failure. Although they are very ambitious, the most successful leaders seek out awards, recognition, and accolades for their teams and companies—not themselves—and are often rewarded with great success!

 

About the Authors: Our corporate and personal purpose is to “create opportunities to improve lives” by sharing our knowledge, research, experiences, successes, and mistakes. You can e-mail us at [email protected].

Mike DuBose received his graduate degree from the University of South Carolina and is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He has been in business since 1981 and is the owner of Research Associates, The Evaluation Group, Columbia Conference Center, and DuBose Fitness Center. Visit his nonprofit website www.mikedubose.com for a free copy of his book and additional business, travel, and personal articles, as well as health articles written with Dr. Surb Guram, MD.

Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College’s Schools of Business and Psychology and is president of DuBose Web Group (www.duboseweb.com).

Katie Beck serves as Director of Communications for the DuBose family of companies. She graduated from the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.

 

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