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A recent study in Harvard Business Review of 3000 global remote knowledge workers found that middle managers are 46% less satisfied with their work, compared to senior managers - attributing this to a lack of a sense of belonging, pressure, and lower productivity.
So what’s driving this disgruntlement?
According to London Business School professor of management Lynda Gratton, the world is in the midst of a type of “industrial revolution,” except that this time around, it’s called the Technological Revolution. Before the Industrial Revolution, the economy was based on an apprenticeship model. Masters would teach their craft to apprentices, who went on to become masters themselves. This economic model worked well until the invention of machines, which quickly replaced both the masters and their apprentices.
Today’s Technological Revolution seems to be following suit - but this time tech tools are replacing middle managers. Across industries, middle managers have always served as the interface between strategy and planning at the senior levels and execution at the lower levels. Traditionally, middle managers, armed with quarterly goals and KPIs, have been charged with checking output, providing corrective action, and reporting all of this (and more) to senior management.
But anyone who’s been involved in project management recently can’t deny that technology can do all of the above - often more effectively than middle managers. So with the introduction of these tools, the classic middle manager R&Rs have gone by the wayside.
What should organizations do?
It’s time to redefine the R&Rs of middle managers and the skills they’ll need to succeed. In terms of R&Rs, technology can’t choose itself (at least for now), so middle managers need to be skilled in identifying specific needs and selecting appropriate technologies that will eventually help them perform better. And tech tools are (still) lacking in team building and development - crucial “fuel” that keeps teams at their best. To do this well, middle managers need to train in soft skill areas such as creating a sense of belonging and encouraging effective communication among their team members.
The middle management level has always been the backbone of organizations. The backbone remains, but its function has changed. It’s time to support middle managers to thrive in the Technological Revolution.
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
There are many factors affecting career development that you have little control over. These might be the company’s willingness to expand or the repeated failure of projects that severely affect the company’s bottom line.
However, when it comes to you and how you are seen by others you have full control. I bet you are asking now, why does this matter? You do your job well and you are a valuable member of the team.
What you might not realize is that one of the most important factors affecting career development is how differently other people might see you. This may have a negative impact on your career advancement as different people see a different side of your “working” personality. If they do, they will judge your ability to take on senior management roles in different ways.
Let’s take a look at all the different kinds of people you work with. There will be those under you, people in your team, your colleagues at a similar management level in your company, and of course, your bosses, those at a senior level you aspire to join. Each one sees you differently from each other, as well as, from how you see yourself.
Confusing, isn’t it? Well, it’s also quite a normal thing because we behave differently towards others we are in a senior position to than those who are senior to us. We might be more serious looking down the corporate ladder, and more appeasing looking up. We might be more fun and share jokes with our colleagues, and be more emotionally supportive to those on our team. If you take all of the different sides to your personality it goes to make up you as a whole.
The important thing to note here is whether you are hiding the important aspects of yourself and hurting your chances of promotion in the process.
If you are at an impasse in your career then it might be time to take a look at how others perceive you. You might be frustrated by seeing others promoted over you. You may feel that you are not being valued and should perhaps find employment with another company. This can take time and a great deal of effort so make sure it is what you want. Or could you simply change how others see you and stay in a job you enjoy?
What you should do is identify the things that people see in you that are positive and worthwhile to the company. You could create a file that lists the people you work with, and what they know and understand about you.
The next step is to use that information to influence your own view of yourself. This will help you build a better picture of who you are, and more importantly, what you have to offer the company. This will help you influence and change how others see you.
Getting to know yourself will always prove to be tricky so you might want to enlist the help of someone you trust at work. They might be able to show you how to adjust your personal and professional approach to ensure that you are seen in the very best light by each and every person you work with.
Getting that promotion you deserve and climbing the corporate ladder may seem easier for some than others. You might feel like you are missing out, and that is simply not fair. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Taking control and power over where you want to go is about seeing yourself more clearly. Understanding what changes you need to make to succeed and implementing those changes are the first steps to developing a successful career in management.
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
You know it by now. You’re the result of your habits.
But what you might not realize is that while certain habits might have gotten you to where you are on the career ladder, at some point, they have actually stopped your climb, despite your having aimed your best towards professional development goals for managers.
I’ll illustrate this with a story from my own everyday life. Usually, my daughter takes the school bus to school. But a few months ago, she had to bring in quite a few supplies for a school project, so she asked me to drive her to school, and of course I agreed. After my frantic morning routine of getting dressed, gulping down a cup of coffee and gathering my briefcase, we got into the car to head for her school. Or so I had intended.
As I switched into the lane leading to the highway, my daughter yelled out, “Mom, where are you going? I’m going to be late for school!” Pretty confused, I slammed on the brakes and realized that I was driving towards my office. It seemed that my habit of driving to work had overtaken my intention to take my daughter to school. I made a u-turn and luckily got her to school on time. My habit of following a certain route to work had served me well - until this particular day. If you are conscious of your habits (unlike I was), then you become aware of when they are helpful and when they are not.
I’m sure you can recall a version of this story in your own life. Now let’s see how it all works.
Studies show that about 40% of your daily decisions are made automatically - without a second thought, so to speak. This allows the other 60% of your brain to take in and process new information. In order to maintain this ratio, your brain is constantly identifying repeated behaviors and turning them into automatic habits, through your brain’s natural compression mechanism. With this mechanism in place, you can actually learn to compress your unhelpful habits - allowing room for your potential habits to be discovered and developed. This should be a significant part of the professional development goals for managers.
At this point, you might be wondering if you have any unhelpful habits that need compressing. The answer is an unequivocal “yes.” I’ll explain.
As you already know, automatic habits are wonderful for getting things done quickly and efficiently, not requiring a minute’s thought. The downside, however, is when they take charge in situations in which they shouldn’t (like in my story above). Now let’s take a business example.
As a middle manager, you might be appreciated for knowing every detail of every project, poised to make quick and efficient decisions, thus driving projects ahead at the speed of light. However, what happens when moving up in the ranks of your company requires releasing some control and nurturing a team to take on responsibilities? Your natural instinct is to take over and decide for them, while what you really need to do is develop the ability to let your team come up with decisions, even if it means they might struggle a bit. As you can see, here you must hold back on your habit for quick, accurate decisionmaking and allow room for a less developed habit, nurturing your team. This is the process of “growing” as a manager, which will lead you to future career success.
One word of warning: there are many programs out there that claim to have isolated the most needed habits for you to take on easily and painlessly. The sad result of such programs is that like everything else forced on you, you’ll probably drop such “cookie-cutter” habits as soon as you can (think of some of the fad diets out there). On the other hand, if you concentrate on discovering and developing your own innate habits, you’ll be working on something that comes naturally to you - and therefore much more likely to stick and serve you for years to come.
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
For those of you about to embark on a job interview, in seeking job promotion interview answers, you’ve no doubt noticed the endless supply of how-to books, informational websites, prep courses, and advice articles. Of course, there’s a reason for this endless supply: endless demand. And what fuels this endless demand? Simply put: stress.
Going for a job interview is probably one of the most stressful experiences as you make your way up the corporate ladder - whether inside or outside your current organization. And to try to combat this stress, everyone’s on the hunt for the magic formula that will lead them to the right job promotion interview answers. But even if you’re sure you’ve discovered the “right” way to approach an interview, does this mean you’ll beat out the other candidates?
Based on my 35 years of experience, the answer is an absolute “no”. And it’s not because you didn’t find the right how-to book or didn’t follow the prep course instructions correctly. It’s because you didn’t answer these three crucial questions:
What do my competitors have that I don’t?
What do I have that my competitors don’t?
What added value can I bring to the organization?
Let’s examine each of these.
1. What do my competitors have that I don’t?
Whenever I ask a manager about to apply for a new job to find out what advantages their competitors have over them, I’m often met with the same response: “How should I know? I don’t even know who else is applying.” But that’s no excuse. Even in cases where you’re completely in the dark, you can always make one assumption: there are candidates out there that meet the job requirements in areas where you don’t. So armed with this assumption, your best bet is to first make a list of these areas. Once you have a list, see if you can brainstorm examples where you might partially meet some of the requirements. Remember, “partially” is better than “none” and will still make a case for your candidacy, especially when the organization takes into consideration other advantages your bring to the table.
I’ll give you an example. You read in a job ad that at least five years of experience are needed in a certain area, yet you have only three years. You can assume that most (if not all) of your fellow applicants will have at least five years of experience. In this case, the best plan of action would be to demonstrate that your three years were jam packed with the exact kind of experience needed for the job at hand - so much that they’ve prepared you specifically for this new role. If you frame your three years in this way, they will be seen as an advantage over the others who might have five years of experience - but not necessarily as relevant as yours.
2. What do I have that my competitors don’t?
I hope you haven’t put away the list you prepared while answering the first question. Now, it’s time to examine your qualities that might actually exceed the job requirements - positioning you above your fellow applicants. I call these qualities “surplus points”. Surplus points have to be kept close to your chest and revealed only as needed. Too much waving around of surplus points will flag you as overqualified and unsuitable for the job at hand. Instead, surplus points should be framed as extensions of the job’s core requirements.
For example, a job ad requires retail experience in a certain area such as supermarkets. You have this experience but you also have experience in wholesale. Such a surplus point should be communicated as an extension of the retail experience required by the organization. In other words, you don’t want to overwhelm the interviewer by touting that you can take on both retail and wholesale markets. Instead, you want to illustrate how your understanding of the wholesale markets will assist you in dealing with the retail markets - something other candidates can’t necessarily offer.
3. What added value can I bring to the organization?
Added value in this context means something that you bring to the job that’s not required by the company - but is of specific value to the company. This might sound a lot like the surplus points above, but added value is different. First of all, as I said before, surplus points run the risk of flagging overqualification. Added value, however, is always positive and is usually communicated as specific knowledge the organization would be happy to have. Therefore, your added value should be communicated in a way that results in a pleasant surprise for the interviewer - and sets you leagues above the other candidates.
For example, you might know that the organization is currently trying to penetrate a specific market you know well. In fact, you have the knowledge to help the organization form its strategy, custom its product or service, and identifying key competitors. This is the added value you could bring to the organization that others cannot offer. It should be made clear in the interview, though brought up within the context of the organization’s current challenges in the new market. And don’t forget to include concrete evidence of your knowledge in that market.
The head of the pack
If you focus on any of the three questions above - or a combination of more than one - you’ll find yourself at the head of the pack when the organization shortlists the leading candidates. As you have seen, it takes some effort to answer these questions, but the payoff will be worth it.
Good luck!
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
As leaders, we’ve encountered this anomaly repeatedly:
When I have little time, I get a lot done, but when I have a lot of time, I get less done.
Why is this?
The time management professionals out there can definitely answer this question from their perspective, but I’d like to offer a mindset point of view.
Briefly, the more our mind has room to handle a task, the quicker we’ll get things done. The more our mind is filled with other things, the slower we’ll get things done. So, all we need to do is to clean out our minds, right?
Well, it’s not that easy. If we cleaned out our minds totally, we wouldn’t have any resources to complete our tasks. We need positive mental energy in our minds to get things done. On the other hand, minds filled with negative mental energy keep us stuck.
So the next time you’re contemplating a task, check which of my formulas below best fits your situation.
1. Plenty of chronological time + Negative mental energy = No time (try again later)
2. Plenty of chronological time + Positive mental energy = You’ve got time (go for it now)
3. Short on chronological time + Positive mental energy = You’ve got time (go for it now)
You’ve probably noticed that based on (1) and (3), there’s no real connection between chronological time and the time we need to get things done. It’s a matter of mental energy.
So the next time you’re blaming yourself for being less productive than you should, consider your mental energy level. Is it up to task?
Good luck.
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
For those of you about to embark on a job interview, in seeking job promotion interview answers, you’ve no doubt noticed the endless supply of how-to books, informational websites, prep courses, and advice articles. Of course, there’s a reason for this endless supply: endless demand. And what fuels this endless demand? Simply put: stress.
Going for a job interview is probably one of the most stressful experiences as you make your way up the corporate ladder - whether inside or outside your current organization. And to try to combat this stress, everyone’s on the hunt for the magic formula that will lead them to the right job promotion interview answers. But even if you’re sure you’ve discovered the “right” way to approach an interview, does this mean you’ll beat out the other candidates?
Based on my 35 years of experience, the answer is an absolute “no”. And it’s not because you didn’t find the right how-to book or didn’t follow the prep course instructions correctly. It’s because you didn’t answer these three crucial questions:
What do my competitors have that I don’t?
What do I have that my competitors don’t?
What added value can I bring to the organization?
Let’s examine each of these.
1. What do my competitors have that I don’t?
Whenever I ask a manager about to apply for a new job to find out what advantages their competitors have over them, I’m often met with the same response: “How should I know? I don’t even know who else is applying.” But that’s no excuse. Even in cases where you’re completely in the dark, you can always make one assumption: there are candidates out there that meet the job requirements in areas where you don’t. So armed with this assumption, your best bet is to first make a list of these areas. Once you have a list, see if you can brainstorm examples where you might partially meet some of the requirements. Remember, “partially” is better than “none” and will still make a case for your candidacy, especially when the organization takes into consideration other advantages your bring to the table.
I’ll give you an example. You read in a job ad that at least five years of experience are needed in a certain area, yet you have only three years. You can assume that most (if not all) of your fellow applicants will have at least five years of experience. In this case, the best plan of action would be to demonstrate that your three years were jam packed with the exact kind of experience needed for the job at hand - so much that they’ve prepared you specifically for this new role. If you frame your three years in this way, they will be seen as an advantage over the others who might have five years of experience - but not necessarily as relevant as yours.
2. What do I have that my competitors don’t?
I hope you haven’t put away the list you prepared while answering the first question. Now, it’s time to examine your qualities that might actually exceed the job requirements - positioning you above your fellow applicants. I call these qualities “surplus points”. Surplus points have to be kept close to your chest and revealed only as needed. Too much waving around of surplus points will flag you as overqualified and unsuitable for the job at hand. Instead, surplus points should be framed as extensions of the job’s core requirements.
For example, a job ad requires retail experience in a certain area such as supermarkets. You have this experience but you also have experience in wholesale. Such a surplus point should be communicated as an extension of the retail experience required by the organization. In other words, you don’t want to overwhelm the interviewer by touting that you can take on both retail and wholesale markets. Instead, you want to illustrate how your understanding of the wholesale markets will assist you in dealing with the retail markets - something other candidates can’t necessarily offer.
3. What added value can I bring to the organization?
Added value in this context means something that you bring to the job that’s not required by the company - but is of specific value to the company. This might sound a lot like the surplus points above, but added value is different. First of all, as I said before, surplus points run the risk of flagging overqualification. Added value, however, is always positive and is usually communicated as specific knowledge the organization would be happy to have. Therefore, your added value should be communicated in a way that results in a pleasant surprise for the interviewer - and sets you leagues above the other candidates.
For example, you might know that the organization is currently trying to penetrate a specific market you know well. In fact, you have the knowledge to help the organization form its strategy, custom its product or service, and identifying key competitors. This is the added value you could bring to the organization that others cannot offer. It should be made clear in the interview, though brought up within the context of the organization’s current challenges in the new market. And don’t forget to include concrete evidence of your knowledge in that market.
The head of the pack
If you focus on any of the three questions above - or a combination of more than one - you’ll find yourself at the head of the pack when the organization shortlists the leading candidates. As you have seen, it takes some effort to answer these questions, but the payoff will be worth it.
Good luck!
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
It seems like hiring top performers has gotten almost impossibly challenging. No doubt, the furious pace of global business is a big contributor, with demand for top performers climbing all of the time.
But the truth is that hiring top performers has always been one of HR’s most difficult challenges. It’s something I struggled with when I began my own career over three decades ago.
When the difficulty of hiring top performers first came up in my career, I made a list of possible reasons:
Headhunters aren’t doing their job.
Organizations can’t offer enough money.
Role descriptions aren’t accurate.
Role/industry/company image/location aren’t attractive.
Ego issues (on both sides)
“Old school” hiring practices
While these were good hunches, I knew that I needed to check with the field. As I was lucky enough to have working relationships with many of the top HR industry leaders, I asked them why they thought hiring top performer was so challenging. After analyzing all of their answers, I boiled them down to four main points:
1. Incompetent headhunters
2. Differences in compensation expectations
3. Inflated egos making unrealistic demands
4. Unattractiveness of industry/organization/location
This was from the HR perspective, but what about the top performers themselves? Again, as I had access to many top performers (I had “raised” most of them), I asked them the same question from their perspective: Why did you turn down your latest job offer?
This time, I received a much wider range of answers, but here are the top four (in descending order):
1. Organizational culture
2. Intraorganizational mobility
3. Compensation package
4. Hiring process
When I analyzed the data, I was surprised to see that compensation was listed as third. According to the HR professionals, they were missing out on top performers because of money. But according to the performers themselves, this clearly wasn’t the case. The number one reason was organizational culture. What was I missing?
To answer this, I needed to somehow bridge the perspectives of HR and the top performers themselves.
So I went back to the top performers to ask them what they think organizations see as their biggest challenge in hiring them. I got three answers:
Incompetent headhunters
Compensation demands
Top performer’s ego
Clearly, the top performers were able to put themselves in the shoes of the organization - so much that unless the organizations were told that their culture was the number one culprit, recruiting top performers would remain elusive forever.
So it was now time to focus on organizational culture. As it’s such a catch-all term, I returned to the top performers to ask what they meant by organizational culture.
From their responses, their understanding of organizational culture seemed to center on how much a top performer can develop and advance within an organization. To gauge this, they’ll ask themselves some of the following questions:
Is the organization open enough so that new performers can really learn how it operates?
How transparent is the organization in terms of employee promotion and turnover?
Is leadership development a priority? Are there sufficient resources for this?
Following this, I understood that many organizations, when attempting to attract top performers, were making the mistake of prioritizing money over an open organizational culture that encouraged top performer growth and advancement. This, of course, with work, can be changed.
From my perspective, every organization has the potential to hire top performers. They just need to make the choice to develop this potential.
What are your thoughts on the challenges of hiring top performers? I’d love to hear your ideas.
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
Earlier this week, I was asked to participate in a senior management VC of one of the industry’s leading organizations. The main issue on the virtual table was how to communicate impending disappointing news (layoffs, salary reductions, etc.) to their employees.
As we all settled into the virtual conference room, one of the participants, who seemed a little agitated, spoke up:
“I might be preaching to the choir, but I really can’t stand those cliches that have been going around. You know, ‘every cloud has its silver lining,’ or ‘making lemonade out of lemons.’ Our employees deserve a heck of a lot more than that.”
I smiled and gave a big nod of approval. I took the floor.
“From my point of view, I don’t have an issue with what these kinds of sayings want to teach us. What I do have a problem with, though, is how they are used.”
“What do you mean, Etika,” another participant asked.
“Look, I am well-aware of the fact that delivering disappointing news to your employees is probably one of the most challenging and frustrating parts of being a leader. I’ve seen this played out many times, and it’s never pleasant, no matter how it’s packaged.”
I switched to gallery view on my VC software and saw all of the talking heads nod in agreement.
I continued, “But when you approach your employees with disappointing news, you have to put yourselves in their shoes first. This is definitely not the time to make things easy for yourselves. You’re the leaders here. You’re going to have to put yourselves out there so that they can feel how difficult it is for you to face them.”
I looked out at the Hollywood Squares and noticed a little confusion.
“I have a hunch that today many of you expected me to come with a written script to read to your employees, filled with wise advice, brimming with optimism towards the future - sayings such as, ‘when one door closes, another opens.’” But that’s not going to happen today.
I looked at my screen. Silence. Was my laptop frozen? No, they were in shock.
“Now, please don’t get me wrong,” I continued. “Those of you who’ve worked with me over the years know that I’m the first person to try to turn a crisis into an opportunity. However, as I said before, you have to put ourselves in your employees’ shoes. And frankly, they’re just not ready to hear about the “day after.” They are worried about tomorrow.”
“In fact,” I said, “any talk of optimism will probably backfire.”
I peered into my screen, trying my best to read the body language of the other participants. I could see they were looking for answers.
“So here’s what I think would be an effective way to approach things. First, each part of the population needs to hear a specific message for their particular situation. This will require dividing employees into groups, such as those who are facing a salary reduction and those about to be laid off. Then, these groups need to be separated again according to level, such as middle managers and line employees. You will need to hold separate meetings with each subgroup.”
I continued, “Begin each meeting by genuinely showing both how uncomfortable you are with the situation as well as the personal sacrifices you are making to keep the organization going. This will help your employees begin to connect with you, at least on a basic level. Not only will they see that you’re also affected, they’ll also understand you’re doing your best to restore things for them as quickly as possible.”
“The next stage is very important,” I emphasized. “Here, you have to demonstrate that the organization wants to help them during this time of crisis. It’ll take some planning, but for example, you could provide guidance in managing finances or mini-courses in improving professional skills. I’m sure you have the in-house talents for all kinds of offerings. Under today’s circumstances, all it takes is a laptop and goodwill.”
I conceded, “Of course, there’s no substitute for bringing back a full salary and stable job. But the feeling that the organization is trying, under these exceptional circumstances, to do what it can, will at least offer some encouragement to employees as they navigate this crisis.”
Many of the faces began to lighten up and I could sense wheels turning in the minds of most participants. They were formulating plans.
“I’ll leave you with this,” I said. “It’s crucial, especially since we can’t meet face-to-face, that our messages are both clear and sincere. This is the time, as a leader, to rise to this occasion.
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
I’ve said it before. There’s a chronic illness plaguing our leaders and it’s called the sin of arrogance. The challenge is that all successful leaders suffer from the sin of arrogance to some degree. And there’s one area where it can create havoc: decision making.
In my previous post (link), I gave some background regarding how the sin of arrogance develops in successful leaders - resulting with all kinds of problems, including derailment of career goals for leaders. Even though no one is immune from the sin of arrogance, it can still be managed. But first, let’s list two major challenges associated with the sin of arrogance:
1. Inability to identify the connection between the symptoms and the disease
2. Complete denial (No leader wants to be “accused” of being arrogant.)
And the effect of denial is that when you deny being arrogant, you automatically ignore any connection between your “non-existent” symptoms and the disease - often compromising the career goals for leaders.
Now I’d like to focus on how the sin of arrogance affects one of the most important aspects of effective management: decision making.
Because the decisions of leaders have far-reaching consequences for organizations, it is important to understand how these decisions are developed in the minds of its leaders:
The sin of arrogance directly influences the way leaders interpret reality. Their focus becomes cloudy - often resulting in hapless “know it all” decision making. But when the penny finally drops and the leader realizes they’ve made crucial mistakes, denial takes over - and then the leader hunts for someone else to blame. The tragedy here is that the leader, intoxicated with their own version of reality, can’t even learn from their own mistakes.
The sin of arrogance encourages leaders to attribute themselves with superpowers that they think allow them to quickly understand, assess, and act on any situation that comes their way. Because of their rich experience, many leaders think they’ve “seen everything” and therefore let their superpowers decide what to do. Ironically, belief in these superpowers actually weakens the very qualities that have served in developing the leader, such as sharpness, determination, quick-thinking, and caution. This becomes dangerous, especially in nuanced situations the leader might not have experienced in their career. The danger here is that the more leaders continue to rely on the superpowers they think they’re imbued with, the quicker their actual performance - especially when faced with new scenarios - will weaken.
Many leaders are probably thinking, “I’m so lucky I don’t suffer from the sin of arrogance.” I completely understand their thinking, as it’s pretty impossible to analyze yourself objectively. However, with over 35 years of experience with leaders, I haven’t found a single leader who isn’t at least slightly infected by the sin of arrogance. Without it, they wouldn’t be a leader. What I will say, though, is that how much the sin affects their management performance can definitely be put into check. Here’s what needs to be done:
Become familiar with what the sin of arrogance is.
Identify any symptoms you might have.
Find out ways to ensure that the sin of arrogance does not eat away at your performance. Remember that many people live successful lives with chronic conditions.
Look out for my next post, in which I’ll help you identify the symptoms of the sin of arrogance so that you can learn to manage them - instead of having them manage you.
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
You’ve worked hard and you’re a successful leader by all measures of how to measure success at work.
Everyone knows you’re a star. But they know something else as well: You’ve got a huge ego.
Don’t worry, success and egos go together, especially when examining how to measure success at work. As human beings gain power, our egos tend to grow as well.
But here’s the catch: while success will make you famous, your ego can be your own worst enemy, as a growing ego inevitably leads to what I’ve dubbed the Sin of Arrogance.
The Sin of Arrogance, as I’ve seen over the years, causes leaders to fail miserably. At first, the Sin lurks under the radar. But then it creeps out in typical leadership situations: meetings, projects management, or decision making.
Let’s take decision making. I’ve witnessed how the Sin can lead to completely illogical decisions on countless occasions. It goes like this: the Sin causes general confusion, which results in a distortion of reality. Armed with this distortion, leaders charge into situations, completely confident in their courses of action. Along the way, they develop immunity to the advice, opinions, or warnings of their team, often sounding claims, such as, “I know better than everyone else”. The decision flops.
But unfortunately, such leaders rarely see the Sin as the cause of their failed decisions. Instead, they’ll attribute flops to anything else that comes to mind. Rinse and repeat a few times, and you’ve got what I call toxic leadership.
And be sure that no leader is immune. The common denominator among leaders from all walks of life is that they’ve achieved their status based on their success and contribution to their organizations, no matter the size or type.
And every leader who’s finally achieved their coveted status must deal with the same questions: “Now that I’m a leader, will my new status help propel me even further?” “How will my new status influence my daily lives? My values? The way I work?” “What does it mean for me to be a leader?”Am I “above” everyone else?”
In my practice, thousands of leaders have answered these questions with one common answer: “Nothing has changed for me; I’ve just got more responsibilities.”
But when I’ve asked their subordinates or peers, I’ve gotten a completely different response. Without exception, they feel a significant change in the way their leaders behave, see themselves, and relate to the environment.
But of course, even if faced with such feedback, leaders will deny any change. And even if, deep down inside, the leader believed there might be a grain of truth, they’d justify the “slight change” by saying things such as “the role requires it”, “it’s healthy to keep some distance”, or “those people are just jealous”.
The problem here is that such denial will keep the Sin of Arrogance alive and moving, though possibly at a slow, undetectable pace.
Before I close, I want to ask successful leaders to stop and take note of how easily the Sin of Arrogance can appear - especially following success. Yes, leaders, it’s almost unavoidable, but it can certainly be dealt with.
Look out for my next post, in which I’ll continue to explore how the Sin of Arrogance negatively affects decision making.
And always remember:
Great managers are made. Not born.
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