The Balance

Our friend Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is back at it: over-use v. under-use of leadership talents. 

But this time he challenges his audience to find the balance, warning that neither pole is good.

For example, if you woke me up at 3am and asked whether being un-self-aware was bad, I'd say, sure: bad. But if you woke me up at 3am and asked whether being un-self-aware was sometimes good, I'd say...well...as Tomas says: "In other words, even the qualities we most admire become dysfunctional when taken too far, and even the traits we distrust can be valuable in moderation. Human behavior functions the same way: Most psychological strengths aren’t inherently good or bad; they’re dose-dependent."

At this point you're either annoyed that psychologists can't get this answer down to good or bad, or you're thinking you know better. 

Wrong & wrong.

Tomas notes this: self-awareness predicts higher job performance, enhances leadership performance, and increases the quality of interpersonal relationships. Thus: self-awareness = good.

But Tomas also notes that self-ignorance does the following for you:

1. people with inflated self-views tend to be more resilient and less affected by stress

2. self-deception can make individuals more persuasive. People who genuinely believe they are more competent than they are often appear more confident and convincing to others.

3. low self-awareness can fuel ambition. Many entrepreneurs, athletes, and leaders overestimate their odds of success—and this unrealistic optimism propels them to attempt things that a more accurate self-assessment would quickly veto.

He ends with this:

Authenticity is refreshing, but not if it comes at the expense of tact, professionalism, or prosocial self-regulation. And self-awareness is enlightening, but not if it becomes rumination, self-criticism, or paralysis by analysis.

The true art of psychological competence, especially in leadership, is not picking the “right” trait but deploying the right trait at the right time.

The problem is that most people are bad at calibrating their self-awareness. We over-do some things, over-estimate our capacities, or under-estimate the challenges we face. As a leader, others expect -- whether or not they should -- that you have many positive attributes. You may act as if you do to meet expectations (a.k.a. the "Pygmalion effect"). Then you go on thinking you're talented, though you're not (leading you to the "Dunning-Kruger effect"). Then you, and everyone else, find that you're in over your head. Oopsie.

There is a belief in applied psychology, partly articulated by Tomas, that you can over-use your strengths. Our friend Rob Kaiser is very articulate on this point. 

But Tomas also notes this:

As Aristotle argued in his doctrine of the golden mean, virtue itself sits at the midpoint between two vices.

Sometimes strategically under-using your strengths is better than you think, but you run the risk of under-doing it. And sometimes a choice to over-use your strengths creates an advantage, though you run the risk of becoming an annoying boor.

Choose wisely.

Ask us how you can better balance your leadership approach.