“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.â€
Lao Tzu
It’s amazing just how many leaders I have coached over the years that don’t accurately see themselves or the impact of their behavior on others more clearly. Some have what I refer to as having the “no clue” gene (i.e., lack self-insight and self-awareness).
It’s no secret that leaders have inflated views of their skills and competence–we’ve known this for a long time as it’s a consistent finding in all 360-degree feedback research ((Nowack, K. (1992). Self-assessment and rater-assessment as a dimension of management development. Human Resources Development Quarterly, 3, 141-155)). What is simply amazing is the gap between self-perception and reality.
In general, leaders seem to perceive that they basically “walk on water” while others (who have a pretty fair grasp of what leaders really do) often experience them as “passing water.” And, there appears to be growing support for the existence of this self-delusion in several recent studies and surveys ((Nowack, K. (2010). Leveraging Multirater Feedback to Facilitate Successful Behavioral Change. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research 61, 280-297)).
It has been estimated that 65%-75% of the employees in any given organization report that the worst aspect of their job is their immediate boss. In fact, estimates of the base rate for managerial incompetence in corporate life range from 30% to 75% with the average level of poor leadership hovering at about 50% ((Hogan, R. & Kaiser, R. (2005). What we know about leadership. Review of General Psychology. 9 (2), 169-180)).
In a survey of of 1,854 leaders, 92% rated themselves to be “excellent” or “good” as a manager. Self confidence is fine you say, but only 67% of direct reports agreed with them and at least 10% rated their bosses as actually performing poorly according to this study. What is unknown is how these leaders would interpret the results of this survey!
A global survey of executives and leaders by Korn Ferry involving respondents from over 70 countries revealed that only 27% thought their boss was performing the job better than they could! In this survey, 11% rated the performance of their current boss as “poor”, 14% rated it as “below average” and 23% rated it as “average” (42% did perceive their manager as either performing “above average” or “excellent”). So, nearly 75% of executives truly believe they can do a better job than their own boss!
You might not be surprised to learn that nearly 80% of people believe they are among the top 50% most emotionally intelligent people ((Brackett, M., Rivers,, S., Shiffman, S., Lerner, N & Salovey, P. (2006). Relating emotional abilities to social functioning: A comparison of self-report and performance measures of emotional iintelligence, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 780-795)).
In practice, mental health professionals tend to diagnose thoughts and beliefs as “delusional” when they appear unusual (this can always be debated), create strong psychological distress (this is always subjective), or become an obsession–even when there is compelling evidence to the contrary. Perhaps the delusional leaders possesses the “no clue” gene.
We know it can be found in both male and female leaders but does seem to be more pronounced as leaders move up the corporate hierarchy. One way of defining an aspect of “emotional intelligence” is the accurate awareness and insight of one’s own skills, strengths and impact on others. Delusional leaders seem to have a major disconnect in this department–often with pretty predictable life and career results.
Over the years of debriefing 360-feedback reports to executives, I can’t tell you how many “over-estimators” (about 25% of all leaders in our research tend to rated themselves significantly higher than others) often display extreme defensiveness by criticizing the 360 assessment or explain away the more critical results by suggesting that the raters are the problem! Indeed, even at my best as an executive coach I have always seen my role as being a very “imperfect mirror” for the leader to increase their self-awareness. Hopefully, if I am really effective I can enhance their motivation to want to change their behavior in some way.
One of the ways we get at self-insight in our 360 assessments is using a variation of the old Johari Window to plot a competency means of self and other ratings. The number of competencies (shown abbreviated with alphabetical letters) in each of the four quadrants below gives me a quick glance interpretation of who is most likely to possess the “no clue” gene (these are the over estimators whom might have a large number of competencies in the lower right hand corner). In our research, when we find a majority of competencies in the lower right hand corner (potential development areas) we are likely to have a participant who is likely derailing in their job.
Having positive self-regard tends to be generally positive for overall health but having inflated self-ratings relative to others who experience your behavior might actually be a strong indicator of possessing the “no clue” gene and contributing to career derailment at some point in one’s career…..Be well….
Ken Nowack
Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)
