Ego – A person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.
Oxforddictionaries.com
A strong “ego” is likely to have played a part in many a leaders’ upward career progression. Clearly, a certain amount of ego is valuable when it underpins one’s confidence to step up to a leadership role and take on the accountability of more challenging assignments, resource management and employee supervision. Ego also plays its part in assuming the accountability and credit for a job well done.
However, it’s all too easy for the “ego” to draw leaders over to the dark side of accountability when personal and organisational results don’t go to plan. The “ego” can rob leaders of the opportunity to admit responsibility and self reflect in times of failure, instead seeking out what, how or who to blame.
In the November 2011 “Forbes” article The Slow Death of Accountability, journalist John McQuaid describes several prominent business leaders whose accountability and performance in times of crisis was less than stellar. The U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert S. McNamara ascribed his poor leadership behaviour to the difficulties of making complex decisions during the midst of conflict or the “Fog of War”. Ken Lay and the leaders of Enron enjoyed incredible success convinced that they were doing no wrong, before their empire came crashing down around them. Rupert Murdoch announced before a British parliamentary committee in 2011 that he would not accept responsibility for the scandal that had erupted regarding the egregious tactics used by his News corps management.
Leaders could benefit from Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s advice when he says: “Don’t let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it”.
The more your personal ego is invested in personal and professional success, the more your risk both for yourself as well as the people you lead, when mistakes happen. Avoiding self-reflection can be psychologically useful in the short term. It protects you from the discomfort of realising you might be responsible for failure. But in the long run, this illusion creates fear and distrust in the people working for you and prevents the real issues from being addressed.
As a leader, success emerges just as much from the strength of your ego, as it does from knowing when to set your ego aside in order to acknowledge your accountability for the good and bad times, effectively lead other people, earn their trust, give credit where it’s due, inspire others to overcome obstacles and together learn from mistakes.
Resources:
Worrall, Di: Accountability Leadership (Available on Amazon Kindle July 2013)
How smart leaders are applying the new rules of accountability to real world results.
McNamara, Robert S.: The Fog of War
Forbes: The Slow Death of Accountability
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmcquaid/2011/11/10/the-slow-death-of-accountability/2/