We’ve noticed an interesting correlation within leadership—the higher a person rises in the ranks of an organization, the more they are at risk of getting an inflated ego. And the bigger their ego becomes, the more at risk they are of ending up in an insulated bubble, losing touch with their team, the culture, and the people they serve.
Some people aspire to leadership positions because they come with more power. And even those that don’t are not immune to the temptations and blind spots that come with more authority. People are more likely to please us by listening more attentively, agreeing more, and laughing at our jokes, which strokes the ego. And when the ego is stroked, it grows. David Owen and Jonathan Davidson call this the “hubris syndrome,” which they characterize as a “disorder of the possession of power, particularly power which has been associated with overwhelming success, held for a period of years and with minimal constraint on the leader.”
An ego left unchecked will twist our perspective and warp our values. We believe that managing our ego’s craving for fame, fortune, and influence is a prime responsibility of any leader. Unfortunately, when we’re trapped in the grip of the ego’s craving for more power, we lose control. Our ego causes us to be vulnerable to manipulation, it corrupts our behavior (often causing us to act against our values), and it impairs our field of vision.
Our ego becomes like a target that we carry with us. And like any target, the larger it is, the more likely it will be hit. In this way, an inflated ego makes us vulnerable to others taking advantage of us. Because our ego desires to be fed, it can make us susceptible to manipulation. When we become a victim of our own need to be viewed as significant, we end up being driven into decisions that may be harmful to ourselves, our people, and our organization.
An enlarged ego also corrupts our behavior. When we think we’re the sole architects of our success, we tend to be more selfish, less gracious, and generally more condescending to others. This is particularly true in the face of criticism. Our ego can prevent us from taking helpful feedback and learning from our mistakes. It creates a wall that makes it hard to appreciate the rich lessons we glean from failure.
Lastly, an inflated ego narrows our vision. The ego tends to draw our frame of vision to more immediate moments of satisfaction. Not only will our attention be drawn more to the moment rather than the future, when our ego is enlarged, it often colors the lens by which we look to the future. A big ego opens us up to have a strong confirmation bias. We lose a healthy vantage point and end up in a leadership vacuum devoid of the brutal facts we need to hear. As a result, we lose touch with those we lead, the culture we are a part of, and, ultimately, our clients and stakeholders.
Breaking free of an inflated ego and dodging the leadership bubble is an important and challenging job. It requires courage, reflection, and selflessness. Here are a few tips that may be able to help you bust through an ego grip and move toward a healthier leadership style.
- Acknowledge the benefits and opportunities you have because of your role. Some of them help you to do your job effectively. That’s awesome. But other benefits are merely perks that boost your status and power (e.g., a reserved parking spot). Contemplate which of your privileges you can let go of.
- Surround yourself with people who won’t feed your pride. Surround yourself with smart and confident people who aren’t afraid to speak up.
- Because gratitude and humility are foundations for selflessness, make it a priority to develop the habit of taking a moment at the end of each week to reflect on all the people that had a hand in making your week successful. This exercise is naturally humbling. Consider sending a short message of gratitude to those people.
Having an ego is not bad, but an inflated ego is a liability to our leadership. We need to recognize that an inflated ego built upon the foundation of past success likely damages our possibility for future success.
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From Idea to Action: Take a few minutes today to thank the people who are helping you succeed as a leader.
