This is why the biggest risk for a leader is insularity, which usually comes with holding senior positions. As we rise in the hierarchy of our organizations, we acquire more power. This make people to want to please us by agreeing more, listen to us more attentively and even laugh at our bad jokes. This fuels our ego, and when our ego is fueled, it inflates. Then the risk of insularity becomes a real problem. A leader with an inflated ego ends up leaving in an insulated bubble, losing touch with the outside world meaning with the people, the culture and as a result the pulse of the organization and the society.
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From my observation insularity happens quicker when leaders lack an authentic personal vision because then their only concern is their own need to be seen as great. They do not have an inner aspiration and they seek only for affirmation of their greatness ending up in a leadership bubble where they only see and hear what they want to. As a result, they make bad decisions that may be detrimental to themselves, their people and their organization.
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Being a leader requires a lot of courage, reflection and selflessness. If we want to avoid the leadership bubble, we must make sure that we are in a cognitive, behavioral and emotional development process to refine our self-awareness and broaden our knowledge base. Leadership is a complex moral relationship and a big salary, a nice office and easy laughs will never give us the answer to the eternal question, what makes a good leader.
The inspiration to wright this blog post was given from an article by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter: ” Ego is the Enemy of Good Leadership” (Harvard Business Publishing) . Cover Photo by Szűts Gábor on Unsplash
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