Sunday, December 01, 2013

Becoming overly confident

Success breeds confidence, that we cannot deny. But in a company, when people work in teams, success tends to breed confidence in an unbalanced manner, with the team leader become ever more confident of himself as he rises up the corporate ladder.

The team leader rises up, growing confident in his abilities, when actually, he moved up the ladder not just because he is good, but because his team is good. Few leaders remember that it is the team that got them there.

By the time they get to the top, they have become overly confident of themselves. They make decisions without consulting others, they base their decisions on what they know, what they think should be the way to do things. They run things by themselves, thinking that is the best for the company. Instead of a team effort, it becomes a one-man show. They forget that they got there because of the team.

That is all the more so when the team leader moves up the ladder at a fast pace. Each success is built upon the brilliance of the team, yet he moves up the ladder too fast for this to sink into his head. Drunken by success, he thinks the world of himself.

Power corrupts. Successful leaders can sometimes do more harm than good. As we succeed, we need to guard against becoming overly confident. We need to remain humble and remember the people who helped us get there.

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