On first reflection, arrogance is probably the last thing you want in a leader but arrogance may be what makes them successful.
No Arrogant Leaders, Please
A general definition of arrogance is ‘an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions’. And, yes, in this context arrogance is likely to lead to the downfall of a leader.
But what if a leader’s arrogance is more reflective of self-confidence in their leadership and the decisions they make? This confidence may appear as one of arrogance but actually, it may just reflect the level of certainty any worthy leader needs in their own competence and capability.
In one of my earlier books, titled If I Were A Rich Man, I noted: ‘You will find you will need to develop a level of arrogance to sustain your efforts – not arrogance sustained by false or excessive pride but an arrogance built upon competence and capability.’
Worthy leadership gives rise to centripetal authority but if a leader does not have the strength of character to be confident in their own leadership then it is unlikely anyone else will. In any organisation, people look towards the centre, to leadership, for guidance and direction, and this is centripetal authority at work.
The Arrogant Are Not Approachable
A leader perceived as arrogant may also be seen as being unapproachable. And most would say this is a bad thing. Well, with leadership does come a level of unapproachability and it is necessary for leaders so they can lead effectively.
The key traits of a worthy leader are:
- Wisdom to enable them to quickly recognise circumstances in the business environment and lead necessary change expediently.
- Sincerity and humanity so everyone involved in the business will know that they are committed to the purpose, vision and values of the business but also that they understand their needs as people and can be trusted to also have their interests at heart.
- Courage to be able to make the hard decisions and take the risks that will allow the business to achieve its goals.
- Discipline to enforce the rules within the business in pursuit of purpose and vision and in upholding its values.
Consider these traits and you will recognise that to uphold discipline, to maintain the level of courage required, to be wise and to sustain trust, you probably cannot allow yourself to be just one of the team all the time. Yes, you can be approachable and you can have an open door policy but there must also be a degree of unapproachability, a distance, to sustain your centripetal authority as a leader.
The Leader’s Journey
Arrogance also carries with it a sense of stagnation – no growth, no change – which again is the death knell for a leader, and their business. Leadership is an art and, as such, requires a lifetime of learning and self-development. It is a relentless commitment.
I explore this in my book C88 Leadership Performance – Applying The 88 Secrets of Business Success, an extract of which is below.
‘As a business leader, the success of your business starts and finishes with your capability as a business leader.
Do you read widely? Do you constantly seek to take your business to new heights? Are you continually feeding your and your business’s creativity and passion? Do you wake up every morning with an energy to ask “What is it we are going to do better today?” and then make sure that happens? Are you challenged by change and hide from it? Or is change trying to keep pace with you, as you are always one step ahead of it?
If you are committed to making your business more successful every day, then you must invest in it every day. And if that is to happen then you must invest in your and your leadership team’s capability every day.
Do you have an effective plan for identifying areas for growth in leadership performance that directly impacts the success of your business? Every day as a leader you must be focused on improving your leadership in a way that sets new heights for the performance of your business.’
Iron Sharpening Iron
A leader’s journey of self-development is closely related to the creation and growth of a successful business. Moulding a business to become a great business requires the mastering of specific elements. The leader’s journey and the growth of the business go hand in hand. Again, it is not a mechanical process where you can just tick off a checklist and voilà there it is! It is far more akin to learning basic skills and continually refining and mastering them.
It is at this point, and along this journey, that your ‘arrogance’ (well, at least the one built upon competence and capability) will begin to develop as you begin to craft and hone your skills as a worthy leader. And a symbiotic relationship forms between you and the business, as you both grow and develop each other, as iron sharpens iron.
The stages of the journey in leadership performance are as follows:
- Finding the right business for you.
- Developing your leadership traits.
- Establishing purpose and vision aligned with customer need.
- Seeding, moulding and building the right culture for your business.
- Building an intimate understanding of customers and their needs.
- Developing and investing in the competencies required to deliver on customer needs.
- Building trust with all who work within your business and investing in them – employees and others.
- Crafting and delivering the right rewards to motivate and build momentum.
- Eliminating barriers.
Essentially, it is a never-ending journey where you continually invest in each of these stages, continually seeking to improve and master each area which underpins the performance of your business and, therefore, your skill as a leader.
Whether you are founding your own business or have just won that promotion you have been working hard for, if you have now become a leader within your business, then the challenge of growing yourself is just starting.
There is no place for arrogance in being the ‘big boss’, there is only room for humility as the lessons you will learn as a leader with be hard and painful. You will need resilience, you will need to understand what success means for you, and you will need to condition yourself to succeed.
If you survive this leadership journey to become a worthy leader and grow a great business, then you can quietly afford a little arrogance because you will have achieved a level of success that few reach. Well done, if you do.
Active Knowledge Question:
- Do you have a personal leadership performance program that will guide you in developing your skills as a leader whilst also growing your business?
Act Now:
Need to lift the leadership performance in your business? Learn how in C88 – Leadership Performance Guide and Journal.
Not sure how to become an Achiever, someone who has a life of enduring success? Then read Achieve – Creating A Life of Enduring Success.
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All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
