adminPride can have many far-reaching negative effects on company growth such as staff disgruntlement and demotivation, poor decision making, and stakeholder apathy.
Executives who have excessive pride become blinded to market dynamics in relation to competition and changing customer-purchasing patterns.
While success brings confidence and pride to a company executive, excessive pride in what one has done blinds the same to the new demands of his/her position.
Excessive pride in business shows up in many different forms. It manifest in an arrogant CEO disregarding feedback from staff and customers or an executive becoming untouchable as he/she imposes his/her superiority over the company and everyone else or worse still, bestowing upon oneself a demi-god status that terrifies employees every time he/she passes through them.
When arrogance of this magnitude goes unchecked for a long time, the perpetrator becomes ballistic and deluded because they foolishly think that the world must submit to their “lordship”.
Arrogant leaders are known to allocate more resources such as pay increases, bonuses, and benefits to themselves, and less to the company and other staff levels.
They are known to focus on their personal goals and interests, and take every slightest opportunity to exploit company resources for personal gain.
Egoistic leaders undermine staff motivation, and promote justification of unethical behaviour in the workplace.
Sadly when such executives finally leave their employment, they receive golden parachutes and handshakes as if to say thank you for running down the company.
Pride stifles innovation, growth and the fusion of ideas.
More often than not, arrogant executives in the corporate sector are swayed by their personal viewpoints without any regard for due processes.
Executives hooked to pride don’t share ideas with others and most of the time they see their viewpoint as superior and conclusive.
They belittle the viewpoints of others, but when things go wrong, they want to blame it all on others.
It is because of such pride and arrogance that key institutions in the country today continue to have boards that subordinate themselves to company executives.
Arrogant executives are unapproachable, yet people long to meet them and experience the humility and deep compassion expected of them as leaders.
As one writer puts it, “the growth of blind pride amongst business executives doesn’t happen overnight, but develops over time through little atrocities”.
Yes, pride grows once the executive starts to believe that the company’s success is due solely to his/her own personal efforts, and increases with the executive’s undisciplined pursuit of more control of the company.
Arrogant executives tend to share the delusion that no one can see what they are up to, but constant staff scrutiny will always unmask all their intents.
Humility is the opposite of pride, and it is one of the greatest virtues in human life.
Humility allows an executive to open up to others, allowing him/her to get more from relationships with others both within and outside the company.
Humble and self-respecting business executives value integrity and seek to grow ethical business practices in their companies.
They recognise that the task is not to demean and harass their subordinates, but to engage and involve them in decision-making processes so that they add value to company’s growth.
Honourable executives recognise that the real issues are premised on building sound relationships and exerting one’s effort towards achieving the company’s strategic goals.
They know that positive results are accomplished when one focuses on doing what he/she is paid for, with humility and deep reverence for staff and customers being the guiding philosophy.
A humble executive must grow a character that transcend personal ego to become a thought leader ready to offer an unparalleled service to the organisation.
When executives embrace servant leadership, they grow a measure of wisdom, and relegate pride to the back burner.
They become quick recipients of employee gratitude and admiration.
Executives must ask and answer a number of questions when they show up at work.
Do I move around with pride doing the talking, belittling other staff members?
Does pride and superiority define my relationship with employees and all stakeholders?
How about my lieutenants? Do I exhibit overbearing pride upon them?
Do clients and customers consider me humble and approachable?
The most highly effective executives proudly reach out to people through their vision, their humility, and courage, to take on almost impossible challenges.
Executives must articulate the vision of the business in a way that cajoles their staff to do more for the company.
Effective executives exude self-confidence that is born of the pride that is a legitimate sense of self-respect and personal dignity, and not the loathed pride which caused Lucifer to rebel against God and subsequently fall from grace.
A humble leader should align himself/herself with his/her staff, and when he/she has done that, staff will be willing to follow his/her vision and leadership.
Bradwell Mhonderwa is an Ethics Coach and Trainer with the Business Ethics Centre. Send feedback to [email protected],or visit www.businessethicscentre.co.zw, or call 0772 913 875
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