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

Ego Trap 8

Relapsing Back to Your Old Ways

Unfortunately, there is only one “sin” greater than falling into any of the Ego Traps described so far in this book—and that is making positive changes to your behavior, avoiding a trap, and then falling back into old behaviors again. It’s called an ego relapse—the damaging descent from newfound emotional intelligence right back into whatever ego pitfall has traditionally been your weak spot. Unfortunately, as we will discuss in a moment, this relapse creates more damage than failing to avoid the trap in the first place.

Enter Ego Trap 8, which happens when leaders go back to their old, low-EQ ways and ruin their credibility among the team in the process. Here are a few examples:

• Isabela, who was long ...