Primal egos among professional

Listen to me. I am bigger and better than you!

 



Everyone has an ego, but some people have a much stronger sense of self-worth than others do.  The number of self-defined experts increases every day.  It seems hard to know those that have skills matching their sense of self-worth from those that may be overwhelmed with their own importance in life.  Knowing the difference of the skills of the experts may help in determining the advice you need to follow, but learning to adapt the advice to your situation is a much more important skill and is where you need to focus your efforts.

Companies have a wide array of personalities.  Perhaps you have been in team meetings where the chest thumping and primal discourse of “mine is better than yours” has taken place.  It becomes difficult for those with lesser egos to tolerate and it becomes a challenge to those with greater egos.  Most likely, you have experienced this situation. 

A higher level of education sometimes brings out an increased sense of importance.  This becomes enhanced when accomplishments mount and the individual has not had a failure under their belt.  A combination of successes and failures has a tendency to even out egos, or maybe it is maturing process that takes place.  Sometimes, the maturation never happens and ones ego remains unduly high. The highly educated, levelheaded, experts that have become more parental in their desire to help are among the best to help bring teams together and provide advice. 

Issues with large egos has nothing to do with you or your startup if you never interact with people that feel they are so superior their advice must be followed.  Maybe you have learned to manage these superior individuals, but your team has not.   Obtaining great advice from inside and outside your organization is necessary.  Advice from some people comes with discourse as others in the company feel they are working with unpleasant people.  Resolution of the problems comes from your ability to filter and translate the information.  You can adjust the advice and directions to match your business.  Your team will better act on the directions you set before them if they have confidence in you.

Not everyone is going to find advice provided from others as positive as you might.   Some may feel the advice is wrong.  Others may be intimidated and feel their jobs are threatened.  Others hate having the arrogant person you interact with around the company.  Again, this is why your choice of personalities around you makes you the best person to filter and relay any information. 

These comments come from years of interactions with people.  A few of them could disrupt all business activities simply by the mention of their names!  You must learn to translate negative energy to positive energy and buffer your team.  The team must feel comfortable contributing as equal partners.  Your job as a leader of your business is bringing out the best of all those in your company and taking the company to the great levels you strive to attain.  TAME THOSE EGOS AND KEEP YOUR COMPANY MOVING IN A POSITIVE DIRECTION!

I would love to hear whether you have ever had experiences with huge egos and how it turned out.

Taffy Williams is on Twitter by @twilli2861.  Email questions to twilli2861@aol.com. More is available via his company website ,  photo website, or “LIKE” ColonialTDC on Facebook.  You can also find him in the group Startup Group on Linkedin. Other articles are in the Charlotte, NC- small business section of Examiner.com.