Ego in Leadership

Leadership literature generally focuses on negative impact ego has on person's ability to lead, learn, and inspire others. Mike Fisher and Matt Holford both focused on reducing role of ego in their own leadership and seen friends pursue journey to rid themselves of egoism. But they question this. Oversized ego can blind us to downsides of our actions and decisions. Can convince us only we have answers which leads us to silence or ignore others. Need to protect inflated ego can keep us from admitting mistakes which then keeps us from learning. Jennifer Woo warns inflated ego prevents learning from mistakes and creates defensive wall making it difficult to appreciate rich lessons we glean from failure.

David Owen and Jonathan Davidson identified hubris syndrome among many British Prime Ministers and American Presidents over hundred-year period. Called it acquired disorder brought on by possession of power, particularly power associated with overwhelming success, held for period of years with minimal constraint on leader. Hubris syndrome (clinically diagnosed ego) is dark side of successful leadership for those who can't keep egos in check. Jim Collins's Level 5 leader demonstrates rare combination of personal humility (well-tamed ego) and deep fierce resolve. These leaders as ambitious as any others but their ambitions are for their companies not themselves. Set and drive high standards but manage to do this without drawing attention to themselves. Their careers are marked by achievements of teams and companies they lead not by their own moments in spotlight.

Collins's Level 5 definition contrasts humility and will which suggests there's important role for ego to play in personality of world-class leader. Indomitable will requires conviction which requires some confident view of world. Easy to imagine person whose ego is so minimized they lack confidence to recognize and invest in their own convictions. Great leaders may need remarkably strong convictions but every leader needs enough conviction in their beliefs to lead their teams with clarity and purpose. This is especially true in emergencies or times of uncertainty. Teams turn to their leaders to understand what decisions to make and what actions to take. Leader needs to be able to draw on reserve of self-confidence in order to rise to moment.

Leaders need healthy egos in less dramatic times as well. Sally Percy writes healthy ego is good thing because it boosts our self-confidence, pushing us to confront or overcome our fears. People want to follow leaders who have healthy ego. Leader with healthy ego can fashion kind of charismatic presence that inspires teams, gives them confidence in strategy and direction, creates environment of trust and creativity. Most successful leaders manage to enhance these effects with personal humility.

Some situations call for demonstration of humility: when trying to elicit ideas from team especially when team thinks some ideas might clash with your approach, if you ultimately need to make and own important decision but first want to pressure-test it with team, when trying to connect with audience of more junior colleagues, if joining team of peers and sense some may have pre-judged you. Some situations call for leaning on or turning up your ego: when team has been dealt setback or navigating unpredictable situation and turns to you for clarity, when team is bogged down by growing queue of unmade decisions and needs push, when team is in crisis and quick critical decision making is needed, when you need to inspire large group of people, when you need to imagine yourself in larger role in order to gain perspective on situation.

In these situations can help to imagine ego hat you put on in order to perform certain parts of your leadership role. This involves deliberately switching modes in order to bring your self-confidence and resolve to forefront of your personality. You allow yourself to feel accomplishments of your career and authority of your role. You decide moment requires certain version of yourself. You might prepare for upcoming meeting or public talk by prompting yourself: is it time to put on my ego hat? Just remember to take it off later. This notion of calling forth your ego in order to boost self-confidence and project authority can be especially important for leaders from marginalized or underrepresented groups. These leaders are often fulfilling their role in face of cultural headwinds, diminished institutional support, and bias. Jenny Garrett writes if you belong to marginalized group your humility is more likely to be mistaken for inadequacy and insecurity and as result go against you especially in cultures where ego is prevalent. These leaders sometimes need to dial up their ego.