Two Common Leadership Success Myths That You Shouldn’t Believe

“Successful leaders are always confident and don’t have any major weaknesses”.  

Right? 

Fortunately for most (all) of us, this is a myth. Here’s why… 

Many highly successful leaders are motivated by fear of failure.

Bobby Bowden, the former legendary football coach at Florida State University is an example.

Bowden is the 4th winningest football coach of all-time with 377 wins and a 74% winning percentage. His teams won 2 national championships and dominated the ACC from 1992 – 2005 by winning 12 conference titles in 14 years. Yet, in his book “Winning’s Only Part of the Game” he shares that his motivating force was not the joy of winning. It was the fear of losing.

Coach Bowden’s fear of failure drove him to put in the effort, work hard, and prepare his teams to win.

It’s not unusual for successful leaders to have qualities that can “derail” them.

I sometimes use the Hogan Development Survey (HDS) with my clients. The HDS measure 11 personality qualities that, according to Hogan, potentially “emerge in times of increased strain and can disrupt relationships, damage reputations, and derail people's chances of success.”

Almost every leader who completes the HDS is at “high risk” for 2 – 3 of these derailers.

There’s a book, “Why CEOs Fail” that illustrates how many high-profile CEOs failed as a result of one or more of these derailers.

So, if we have weaknesses, we are in good company. Literally everyone has them.

So, many leaders lack iron-clad confidence and everyone has weaknesses. What can we do about it?

Increase self-awareness. Be humble and seek to understand your strengths and areas for improvement.

Ask others for feedback. Invite trusted colleagues to share their perspectives. Make it safe for them to share without holding back.

Adopt a continuous improvement mindset. Take action to improve. Try something. Reflect on the results, and try again.