Trust-Killer #2 - Ego & Anti-Humility

Richard

When you work or live with someone with a huge ego, how uncomfortable do you get?

They have to be the focal point. They have to be the one talking. Their ideas have to be the ones advanced. Isn’t it amusing to sometimes hear one talk about their great humility? Pretty funny, coming from a person who wouldn’t know humble if it bit them.

A leader with a huge ego to feed is a problem. And the problem is trust. When everything is about them, where is your trust level?

When they write, they refer to themselves in the 3rd person. You can actually hear them looking at themselves in awe. You wonder how can they possibly be serious?

But they are.

Getting the credit is crucial to the big ego. And that’s a real trust-killer with their group or team, because everyone wants to be recognized for what they have done.

But that leader with the big ego takes credit for what they do, and they take credit for what you do. The biggest of egos even seem to take credit for the fact that you exist; they are the only reason you are in a position to achieve anything.

Here’s the thing. If you are a leader, and your team achieves results, you will get plenty of credit. The smart leader gives out credit endlessly to those who have actually done the work … even to those who have made just a small contribution. If anything, they defer to their team, even when the credit really does go to them.

There’s an old line that you can achieve anything if you don’t care who gets the credit. That should be the mantra of a leader. When the leader focuses on getting the credit, how does that make you feel? How does that affect your trust level for that person? How does that affect the camaraderie and achievement level of the team?

Obvious, isn’t it?

Richard Dennis