The Antidotes For Arrogant and Complacent Bosses

No one expects to ever be described as an arrogant or complacent boss. Most leaders we know have the assumption that their career will be akin to a musical crescendo. It may start quietly and slowly, but they believe that as they age, more responsibility will come. And because of their years of experience, they will continually improve at making decisions and inspiring those they work with. And yes, most also assume that their value to an organization will steadily increase so that their final years of work will be the highest paying.

Decades ago, two Harvard professors researched the careers of engineers and found that while some did indeed have a career trajectory that moved steadily upward, there were more who did not. In fact, most plateaued and became less creative and productive after age 35. They were unable to evolve their behavior to the requirements of a new stage in their career.

It is estimated that corporations worldwide are easily spending more than 150 billion dollars on leadership development. We can assume that a big part of the motivation to do that lies in the hope and expectation that leaders can and will improve over time. How can we improve the likelihood of that happening? Can we overcome the forces of arrogant and complacent behavior that hold so many back?

The Curses of Arrogant and Complacent Behavior

History is replete with examples of leaders who fell victim to the twin demons of arrogant and complacent behavior. This scourge is found in every historical record going back to the earliest Biblical records and continues to our current day. We’ll define arrogant behavior as one person’s belief that their ideas and opinions are more valuable and complacent behavior as an attitude of self-satisfaction that leads to people automatically and mindlessly following a routine.

Victorious generals in ancient Rome were paraded through the streets after coming home from a triumphant victory. As time went on, they found it valuable to have a slave who would stand next to the general in the chariot and continuously whisper, “Remember, you are mortal.” In our nightly news, we see playing out the prescient insight of Lord Acton, who wrote, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Are Arrogant and Complacent Behaviors Age Related?

Some things get better with age, but the twin demons of arrogant and complacent behavior appear to have an accelerating negative impact. Based on 360-degree feedback data from 65,253 managers, we found the following:

While some leaders manage to ward off the plague of arrogant and complacent behavior, the majority do not. The above graph clearly shows that as leaders age, their willingness and skill at asking others for feedback and taking action to improve declines significantly.

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The following are three antidotes for arrogant and complacent bosses:

1. Deliberately change some behavior. Remember that improved leadership does not stem from reading books or listening to lectures for new information. Leadership improvement can only be evidenced by new behavior. Improved leadership effectiveness hinges on new actions on your part. As Arnold Schwarzenegger observed, “No one builds their muscles by watching me exercise.” Improved leadership is not a function of reading new ideas in a guru’s book, but it is the leader’s willingness to do new things and improve old behavior. But rather than leaders improving with age because they gain more experience, those years on the job seem to build up a crust that makes the person less willing to try new behavior.
2. Open the feedback spigot. Increase the amount of feedback you receive by overtly asking for it. Pay heed to what others suggest. The whispering slave had some effect, but imagine the impact of a respected Roman general accompanying the victorious general in the parade and periodically noting, “Enjoy this moment, but remember it is short-lived.” “You may want to take a second bow, but the Emperor and the other generals await your second act.” Deliberately asking others for their opinion about important issues opens the feedback spigot. Asking others for one specific thing you could do to create more value for the organization or to solve a specific problem opens the spigot wider. The new behavior is often generated by feedback from a boss, peer, direct report, coach, or friend.

3. Create a mechanism that relentlessly holds you accountable to implement the change you seek to make. Whether losing weight, learning a new skill, or overcoming an addiction, every successful change process hinges on a frequent accountability process. This may entail a nightly phone call or text message to someone you’ve asked to hold you accountable. The greater the frequency, the greater the likelihood that a new habit is formed.

This may feel a bit draconian to some and too time-consuming to others. Just remember this, it makes a huge difference in the likelihood of reaching your goal and avoiding arrogant and complacent behavior.

Conclusion:

Warren Buffett intends to leave the bulk of his estate to four charities, one being the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to which he has already given $33 billion. His warning to them was to wage a relentless war on the “ABCs”–his acronym for arrogant, bureaucratic, and complacent behavior. Buffett believes that the challenges that once-dominant corporations such as General Motors, IBM, Sears Roebuck, US Steel, and others endured were large because they didn’t find powerful antidotes for these plagues. He wrote, “When these corporate cancers metastasize, even the strongest of companies can falter.

Jack Zenger, CEO of Zenger Folkman
(This article first appeared on Forbes.com)

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