The Ego Lift

Some leaders believe the biggest threat to success comes from the outside: competitors, market shifts, or resource constraints. But often, the greatest danger to a team or organization is internal. An unchecked ego at the top. Ego convinces leaders they alone have the answers, blinds them to new information, and makes them resistant to change. It transforms what should be shared missions into personal crusades, suffocating the creativity and collaboration needed to adapt and excel.

The ego lift shows up when leaders believe their title grants them absolute knowledge or when athletes refuse coaching because they think they know best. These moments look like confidence, but they’re actually insecurity disguised as bravado. And they poison teams faster than almost anything else.

Listening doesn’t work when ego stands in the way. A leader might nod along waiting for their turn to speak, or worse, interrupt to redirect the conversation back to themselves. The effect is the same: people stop sharing. Meetings become performative. Feedback withers. Silos grow. The organization slows down.

This is the dark mirror of what we explored at the end of the last chapter: leaders who claim they alone have the vision and who force alignment through dictation instead of inspiration. They believe respect comes from authority, not credibility. These explicit-authority leaders declare a path without inviting discussion, mistaking fear for alignment. Under their command, teams comply outwardly while disengaging inwardly, working to avoid conflict rather than achieve greatness.

It’s the leadership equivalent of “because I said so.” Seniority doesn’t always mean smarter. Experience brings valuable insight and intuition, but it is not infallible. Fresh perspectives can break stale patterns. The famous example of Formula 1 pit crews inspiring hospital surgical teams to improve patient handovers — healthcare teams saved lives because the mission mattered more than their egos.

Leadership is also a constantly evolving role that demands continuous learning and adaptation. In What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, Marshall Goldsmith describes how the very traits that once fueled a leader’s success can become blind spots if they fail to grow. Markets change. Requirements shift. What worked in a previous era cannot simply be applied wholesale to new challenges. These past learnings are critical for growth, but they should be treated as guides rather than rigid blueprints.

This challenge is captured perfectly in what’s known as the founder’s dilemma. Founders often excel at the vision, hustle, and risk-taking needed to start a company. But as organizations grow, the same command-and-control habits or unstructured creativity that once fueled early wins can become obstacles. Companies begin to need process, delegation, and collaborative leadership. When founders cling to their old ways, convinced their instincts alone will scale the business, they risk undermining the very mission they set out to achieve. The most successful founders recognize this shift and evolve by seeking mentors, building diverse teams, and accepting that their role must change if they want the company to thrive beyond the startup stage.

When everyone agrees the mission is the most important thing, these decisions become easier. Reaching out for help or inviting alternative viewpoints is the obvious choice when it improves the mission. Those unwilling to listen or unwilling to try usually act from fear and are often motivated by personal agendas rather than collective success. Product management has no place for ladder-climbers or title-chasers.

The mission must come first, and when it is your guiding light, every other decision becomes clearer.

When a team truly cares about the mission, ego fades. And in a satisfying paradox, personal success often follows naturally as a symptom of the mission’s success.

The hardest lift you will ever make is putting your ego down.

The strongest teams are led by people who do not let their ego, vanity, or fear get in the way.