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Written by Paul Glen
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Thursday, 01 February 2007 |
For every path to success, there seem to be at least 10
highways to failure.
With fair regularity, someone will ask me, "What is the single most
important thing for a leader to do to be successful?" In other words,
"What's the secret to good management?" Of course, there's no good
answer. There are many paths to management success, and, sadly, none of
them is particularly well trodden.
But for every path to success, there seem to be at least 10
highways to failure, and traffic is always jammed on those. There's no
shortage of bad management and leadership out there. "Dilbert" is funny
for good reason: Most of our bosses are, shall we say, suboptimal.
But I have begun to notice a single pattern that I'd call
one of the most common paths to failure: Managers with a sense of
personal exceptionalism seem to have a particularly tough time, both in
business and in life.
Personal exceptionalism is a feeling that one is not like
other people. For some reason, a person believes that he is special and
better than everyone else - that he is apart and above. The exceptional
person has more than a grand view of himself - he has a grandiose one.
This isn't the same as self-confidence or healthy
self-esteem. Confident people have a sense of their own competencies
(and deficiencies), but they don't believe that they have transcended
the boundaries of ordinary humanity. They still exist on the same plane
as the rest of us, even if they harbor a belief in their own abilities.
Those with healthy self-esteem have generally positive feelings about
themselves and their value, but this doesn't lead them to believe that
they must be judged by a different set of standards than everyone else.
Personal exceptionalism is also not the same as group
exceptionalism. Believing that one's team is truly special and apart is
quite different. (It brings its own problems, but that's a different
story.)
I suspect that some people arrive in management with this
problem already well established. In fact, they may seek leadership
roles because of their sense of exceptionality: "I deserve this role
and, in fact, no one else is as qualified as I am." But they may also
acquire this delusion after assuming the job. If enough people tell you
how wonderful you are, how special you are, at some point there's a
temptation to believe it. It's easy to forget that all the flattery and
favors that come with leadership are usually aimed at the role, not its
inhabitant.
So, what's the big deal? How does a bit of excessive pride lead to misery?
People who feel that they are exceptional think rules are
meant for "regular" people. So they tend to take liberties that the
rest of us would never consider. Sometimes it's about relatively small
things. They think their time is more precious than the rest of ours,
so they deliberately show up at meetings 10 minutes late to avoid
having to wait for anyone else. They park their Hummer in the compact
spot because it's closer to the office, and they blame building
management for putting in too few regular spaces. They always eat the
doughnuts but never bring them.
Transgressions can grow over time. Embezzlement, insider
trading and sexual harassment are not uncommon for people with these
personality types. But they can justify anything to themselves on the
basis of their own exceptionalism. They see themselves as special
people and feel that they can't be judged by our rules.
But well short of the criminal, managers with this sense of
self fail spectacularly. That's because demonstrating contempt for
one's staff doesn't inspire confidence, and even minor violations of
the cultural rules of behavior undermine credibility. When these people
violate the rules that they lay down for others, they are quickly
branded as hypocrites and lose credibility on all issues.
Leaders with this misconception also tend to be rather
unhappy people, no matter what they portray outwardly. They judge
themselves by their own grandiose standards and rarely measure up. The
perpetual sense of shame for not actually being as exceptional as they
feel can be a crushing burden.
So, if you detect any feelings of exceptionalism creeping
into your personality, nip them in the bud. Guarding against personal
exceptionalism may not be enough to guarantee management success, but
it's a great start if you want to head a productive group and lead a
happy life.
Paul Glen
is the Founder and Editor of GeekLeaders.com. He is also a columnist
for Computerworld and the author of the award-winning book "Leading
Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology." You can
read more about his speaking and consulting at www.paulglen.com.
© Copyright 2006 by Computerworld Inc., One Speen Street, Framingham,
MA, 01701. Reprinted by permission of Computerworld. All Rights
Reserved.
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