Hubris vs. Humility
Near the end of the 2008 movie, The Dark Knight, newly appointed Police Commissioner James Gordon says that District Attorney Harvey Dent is, “Not the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed. Nothing less than a knight… shining.” This “shining knight” designation paints Dent in stark contrast with Batman, the titular “Dark Knight,” who is willing to bend the rules to do his self-appointed work of protecting his city against the forces of actual darkness.
Of course, there is a lot more to the story than this line implies, but I’ll leave that alone. I know how worked up some people can get about spoilers and I want to respect that. Although, if you’re even slightly interested in being surprised by plot twists from a movie that you haven’t watched in the 17 years since it came out, that’s on you a little bit.
The point is that just like there are sometimes differences between the heroes we deserve and the ones we need, there are also differences between the leaders we want and the ones who are actually good for us. Put another way, often the leaders who look good on paper are not the ones who are actually effective in their role. I came across an article by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic in Forbes recently that underscores this.
Chamorro-Premuzic wrote, “Our own academic research reliably demonstrates that in any area of talent or expertise, including leadership, confidence and competence only overlap by 9% of the time.” The implications of this are staggering! It means that the vast majority of the time, people who act like they know what they’re doing actually don’t!
The Value of Humility
I haven’t done any academic research on this topic, so my opinion is just that–an opinion. But it seems like a no-brainer to me that if I don’t want to be one of those people whose confidence exceeds his competence, the easiest way to accomplish that is simply to dial way back on my confidence. I’ve actually written about this before in this space (Six Ways to Ensure Continual Growth).
When I say dial back the confidence, I don’t mean become a weak, spineless, wishy-washy pushover who doesn’t know what he’s about and just goes whichever way the wind happens to be blowing at the moment. That’s certainly not the picture of a leader people need. A certain amount of self-confidence and aggression is necessary to lead. I simply mean don’t take the brute-force, bull-in-a-china-shop approach. In addition to holding strongly to your own convictions and opinions, also be open-minded. Be willing to own that even though you think you’re right, you still have room to learn and grow. Be willing to listen–to your team, your colleagues, your superiors, and others. And be willing to change your mind and your actions when it becomes clear you need to.
Seems easy enough, right? It should be. It’s simple emotional intelligence, having an objective and managing our emotions and behaviors to achieve it. That’s something we learn very early in our development journey. But it’s not as simple as that.
Our Collective Susceptibility to Hubris
The problem is that acting supremely confident in all situations is often perceived by the collective “us” as a strong leadership characteristic. The leaders we seem to gravitate toward are the aggressive, confident people who distinguish themselves in the workforce and get recognized as having “leadership potential.” When hiring for leadership positions, managers are often impressed by individuals who are bombastic and who fill up the room with their personality in interviews. As Chamorro-Premuzic puts it, “Rising to the top often reflects how well someone plays the game.”
And the rest of us onlookers are not without fault either. When we survey the landscape looking for leaders, our eyes are drawn not to the quietly competent person who just goes about her business, being a good team player, producing results, and building relationships. More often, we’re struck by the person who draws attention by pushing to the front, sharing a strong opinion on every topic, and clamoring to be involved in every high-profile project. Chamorro-Premuzic says, “We often get the leaders we want—the bold, charismatic, camera-ready figures who dazzle us with confidence—but not the ones we need: thoughtful, competent, accountable individuals who quietly build better systems and stronger teams.”
So even though dialing back the hubris is likely to make you a more effective leader, it might also hinder your chances of getting recognized and promoted. Not great!
The Bottom Line
As with so many things in life, it comes down to choices. As leaders, are we going to do the right thing or the convenient thing? Will we choose humility/effectiveness and risk being overlooked? Or will we choose aggression and hubris, at the cost of our competence, because we believe they increase our chances of promotion? On one hand, it’s sad that we have to make these kinds of choices. On the other hand, it’s just another difficult but effective way to assess where our true priorities lie.
What has been your experience with leaders who are confident and aggressive vs. ones who are more humble?
Which ones produce better results?
