The Ego – A Danger Zone for Leaders

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins wrote about the power of humility, personal will and its links to leadership excellence. Not to be confused with being a big softy, my own experience is that effective leaders running successful companies exhibit loads of it! Humility is the inherent quality of treating everyone as an equal, with respect, candour and dignity. Unfortunately for many, success very often breeds ego's the size of cannon balls - self-interest overshadows the importance of colleagues, friends, customers and very often family. Acquiring a big ego can lead to a danger zone for leaders - a disconnection from the things and people who lie at the heart of success, they become redundant and forgotten. The ego is a critical ingredient to making enemies and switching off the support from those who matter.

Ego's are an unsavoury element to corporate life as well, pure observation leads me to believe that all too often judgements are made purely in self-interest. Well my advice is, make balanced business decisions, ones which consider the impact on staff, shareholders and customers (and family!). Very often the mighty fall as a result of their ego's drowning out any appreciation of humility. Self awareness is the antidote and as my Mum says - never get too big for your boots!

John Leach

CEO Winning Pitch

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