Jeffrey Skilling, Bernard Ebbers, Kenneth Lay. These names have become synonymous with corporate greed and ego. As Enron CEO, WorldCom CEO and chairman of Enron, respectively, they enjoyed huge financial and personal success. But, the money and lifestyle became an addiction.
And, as is often the case, the addiction ruined the lives of many associated with them.
While the scale of their excess and ultimate downfall may have been worthy of front-page headlines, their behavior is certainly not unique. Every day, in companies large and small, both executives and managers are undermining their companies’ success through unchecked greed and ego.
The ego has landed
While greed is perhaps more obvious to the casual observer, ego is the more insidious problem for many companies. Egotists can exist at every level of an organization. You will recognize these people by their need to deflect criticism, by their guarded approach to communication with other employees, and by their inability to admit to any real shortcomings. And while their effect can be subtle, over time, it disables the company’s ability to identify and address problems, obstacles and opportunities with the appropriate sense of urgency.
Unfortunately, many of us have worked with a number of people who are egotists. Most are highly intelligent in a lot of ways, but eventually their inability or unwillingness to honestly assess their own strengths, weaknesses and performance shortcomings makes them a liability to their organization.
You can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge
Let’s see if you agree with this: ego disables the speed with which a company can honestly evaluate and improve performance. This lack of speed disables a companny’s ability to accelerate profitable growth.
Let’s take a simple example. John is a manager within the XYZ Corporation. He is aware that his team performance is below expectations, thus slowing down the growth of the entire organization. John is unwilling to and uncomfortable with acknowledging and/or accepting responsibility for under performance. So, he waits, hoping his team’s performance will improve over time. Unfortunately, performance does not improve, and it becomes fully obvious to the entire management team that John’s performance has slipped.
John’s boss asks him why performance is slipping. This is John’s chance to admit that he is struggling and needs help as a manager, but his ego (and pride and insecurity) will not allow that to happen. Instead, John blames the poor performance on a lack of budget, the need for more people, a tight labor market, a poor economy and anything else he can think of.
John’s forgetting that managers are paid to unite teams, make decisions, solve problems and achieve results … regardless of the obstacles. Certainly we take the obstacles into consideration as it relates to establishing appropriate goals, and then managing to those goals. But John is using the typical obstacles that we all deal with, day-to-day, to explain why he perpetually misses performance goals.
If John decided to swallow his pride, then openly and candidly admit his shortcomings, what would the consequences be to him? He may temporarily feel embarrassed to admit that as a manager he is struggling to achieve his performance goals. However, by admitting his weakness, he has the opportunity to receive some coaching and support designed to improve his performance. If, on the other hand, his ego and pride gets in the way, and he pushes away any responsibility for under-performance, he has both delayed resolution of the problem and has potentially and temporarily driven the real issue affecting operating performance underground, where it can’t be properly examined and then addressed.
Honesty is always the best policy
The healthiest and most successful companies are those in which the leaders at all levels are open and honest – with themselves as well as with their teams. Genuine, accessible leaders are one of a company’s greatest assets. When employees and peers feel a leader is humble and approachable, the leader will learn about problems, obstacles and opportunities that otherwise would have been kept hidden.
Open and honest leaders will also be a magnet for the highest quality and best performing people.
In so many ways, lowering the ego barrier benefits both you and your company. So, when you go to work, check your ego at the door.
