Stop Taking Your CEO Role Personally!

Summary: To let your leadership position play havoc with your career is one of the worst things you could do to both yourself, as well as your organization. Donât let your spirits soar too high when you succeed, and donât let a failure sink your heart. Sharing your approach with others and bringing a sense of togetherness is how you become warm and true as a leader. After all, humility is not thinking less of yourself, itâs thinking of yourself less.

Satya Nadella, Sunder Pichai, Indra Nooyi, Laxman Narasmihan are all leaders who made it to top global leadership positions. What helps these leaders stand out is their humility, a leadership trait that displays warmth and builds trust.

On the other side, there are tons of leaders who have gone down a completely opposite andÂ dark trajectory. One of the most dramatic examples has got to be Carlos Goshn, who had been chairman of Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi Motors not to mention the CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance which sold 1 in 9 cars in the entire world!1 Goshn turned around the entire automobile industry from 1998 up until early 2000s, with a glamour story of making production extremely lean and cutting costs left and right. With such absolute power, absolute corruption had to follow. Goshn got arrested for misrepresenting his salary and using vast amounts of company assets. He escaped prison for sure, but now has to live in exile in Beirut for as long as he lives.Â

Itâs not just about some linear relationship between getting successful and then getting carried away, itâs more about the fact that your work is supposed to be something you perform well at for the sake of working well. This can arguably go south as well, leading you to believe you are worthless, your bosses are ignorant and coworkers are incompetent. How do you avoid this leadership âhubrisâ?Â

All leaders in an organization can show up with the CEO Mindset. Here are 3 ways to stop taking role titles personally.

Donât give yourself undue importance

As a leader, you have an important role to play; but in the end, yours is only one out of the many roles, and itâs not even the most important one of all. When you experience success, play close attention to what narrative you are building. It has to be cognizant of how people came together, what they contributed and how that interplay is the key to success. This is how you build an environment2 of care which goes all around and makes followers loyal and the culture stimulating and warm.

Donât mess with your head and your heart

The key to good leadership is not letting success go to your head, and failure go to your heart. Instead of making leadership into a never ending emotional roller coaster by over-personalizing it, take a step back and appreciate how people are together putting in sustained efforts to make something come to fruition. This helps zoom out from the self-centered narrative and accept that itâs not the individual’s responsibility to dominate credit. Rather, be grateful and strive to overcome failures and celebrate successes together.

Donât let your personal feelings dictate your organizationâs future

One of the quickest ways to spot out hubris is when decisions that should be based on consensus, strategy or merit become driven by personal feelings and a misplaced sense of self righteousness.3 Do you respect everyoneâs opinions regardless of their titles? Answering such questions can create space to reflect and truly appreciate with humility. Leaning into this would encourage others, make them feel cared for and soon you would be among a team where top-performers really want to stay.

Impact on Leadership

A star CEO is someone who shines brightly in a way that the spotlight falls on everyone around them. Somehow, you do not get to that position by seeing yourself as outshining others. The pathway is to develop humility to stop tying your own self worth to the work that you do. Instead, make an effort to humbly come together and achieve something larger than self.

Star Mindset

Life is too short. Don’t take yourself so darn seriously. It may sound easier said than done, but trying to win someone over involves more effort. Recognize the opportunities that are concealed beneath obstacles. Don’t take people too seriously either. Break free from the measurement world. Accept being weak. Take life seriously, not yourself.

3 Immediately Applicable Action Steps

Next time, ask for and take in feedback without becoming defensive. In fact, when you talk about what you’re not good at, it helps others see what you really are good at- and your executive presence grows for admitting that.
Narrate inclusive experiences when a project gets completed and meets success. Specifically, offer gratitude and highlight unique contributions.
When you feel moved by success or failure, try to list out what led to it and how you can respond to it with humility and gratitude.

References

(n.d.). Renault Nissan Mitsubishi: Alliance 2030. https://alliancernm.com/
Treasurer, B. (2020, April 15). Have You Reached The Point Of Hubris In Your Leadership? YouTube. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/07/24/have-you-reached-the-point-of-hubris-in-your-leadership/?sh=4992c8ca706f
Leites, N. (1993, March 24). Beware the Hubris-Nemesis Complex: A Concept for Leadership Analysis. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/2005/MR461.pdfÂ

Solutions

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