EGO vs. EQ: How Top Leaders Beat 8 Ego Traps with Emotional Intelligence

Ego Trap 5

Being Blind to Your Downstream Impact

The program for the company’s annual leadership retreat was all set. The senior leadership team had worked for months to design an event that was sure to inspire the company’s leaders, 80 percent of whom were female, who traveled in from three states to attend. But one morning, just ten days before the retreat, the CEO, Jim, burst into the office with a new idea. He had heard the story of a Navy SEAL on the radio on his way into the office that morning, and he thought that the SEAL would be just perfect for the keynote address. Full of energy and excitement, Jim asked his executive team to do whatever they could to get this guy.

Jim—whose self-deprecating humor and infectious laugh easily won people ...