Why Successful People Fail

You are an elite professional. Elite professionals are driven. They have a deep desire to perform at the highest level and often an exaggerated fear of failure. Their self-worth is tied to their degree of success. They need to be successful, and most of them are.

Elite professionals have a level of education, professional skills, and prestige that are substantially above that of the general population. So, why is it that when an elite professional, such as a highly accomplished physician, is put in a leadership position, success is not automatic?

In other words, why do successful people fail?

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has been a pioneer in the field of leadership research for many years. One area of special attention has been leadership derailment. Derailment occurs when a high-performing individual in a leadership position “unravels” due to inappropriate or ineffective behaviors and their career as a leader comes undone.

Derailment can occur suddenly or play out slowly over time as the leader reaches a plateau of leadership incompetence from which they never recover. Derailment is often unclear to the leader because the signals of failure from most organizations are weak, ambiguous, and many times contradictory. Executives hope the ineffective behaviors will magically disappear and that the leader’s effectiveness will somehow improve over time. This rarely happens on its own.

What Causes Derailment?

Leadership can be derailed for many reasons; two of the most common are 1) strengths become weaknesses and 2) lack of accurate self-awareness.

Strengths Become Weaknesses

Successful physicians have strong technical knowledge, skills, and abilities, but that’s not enough to be successful leaders. Physician leaders who rely on their technical competence to the detriment of their social or political skills are blind to aspects of leadership that are requisite for success.

That said, the strengths and personality traits that get people noticed and promoted to leadership roles can become glaring weaknesses that derail them.

• A self-confident leader allows his self-confidence to become arrogance.

• A collaborative leader tries to include everyone in everything all the time, such that nothing meaningful is accomplished.

• A results-oriented leader becomes obnoxious and abrasive, insisting that things be done her way or not at all.

• A perfectionistic leader micromanages the work of capable direct reports.

The noteworthy thing about strengths as derailers is that you don’t count them; you weigh them. A person can have multiple strengths, but one significant derailer will outweigh those strengths and sink the person’s career, regardless of other highly regarded qualities. It is always good advice to Fear Your Strengths.(1)

Lack of Accurate Self-Awareness

“Wherever you go, there you are.” This quote is attributed to many sources, but regardless of its origin, the message is clear: You bring your “self” to everything you do during each moment of the day. True self-awareness can decrease the odds of derailment because it signifies that you are mindful of your strengths, weaknesses, and hot buttons, as well as how you are likely to respond when those buttons are pushed.

More importantly, accurate self-awareness denotes a clear understanding of how your behavior impacts other people, which reduces biased self-perception, which is a leading cause of derailment (as in the case of Dr. S.).

The Story of Dr. S.

Dr. S. is a successful, driven physician who has excelled from the beginning of his career. During residency, he published papers and was voted to represent the house staff in dealing with issues among residents, residency leadership, and hospital administration. In his last year of residency, he was appointed chief resident.

Dr. S. believed he was a proven leader: smart, motivated, competent, and confident. He graduated from residency to join an academic medical center where his ambition and competence served him well, propelling him to the level of division chief.

Over time, however, a disturbing trend appeared. It first became noticeable when nurses began complaining about the way Dr. S. interacted with them and then they went so far as to file a grievance. He frequently questioned their perspectives of problems and their suggestions for dealing with them – often in a demeaning tone and in front of patients and other hospital staff.

While he believed he was doing his best for the patients and the institution, the nurses considered him impatient, rude, and condescending. Eventually, his behavior began to affect his interactions with his colleagues adversely. When this pattern was brought to his attention, he rationalized his behavior by explaining why he behaved the way he did and the reasons it was appropriate.

Over time, Dr. S. became even more impatient with what he perceived as the incompetence of others and rigid in the way he dealt with them. After a deluge of complaints by nurses and colleagues, leadership stepped in and removed him from his leadership role.

It is well-recognized that the degree to which leaders’ perception of their behavior overlaps with or diverges from the perceptions of their subordinates, colleagues, or superiors impacts their effectiveness.(2) Leaders who are not in agreement with those around them may have inflated perceptions of their leadership behavior and, as a result of their biased self-perception, ignore warning signs that they are on a derailment path. Furthermore, overestimated assessments of effectiveness cause leaders to avoid feedback, refuse help, and ignore developmental opportunities.

On the other hand, leaders who see eye-to-eye with the observations of others are not as likely to be blind-sided by behavior that causes derailment. Moreover, they are more willing to make a change if problems do occur. Change never happens if a person does not recognize the need to change.

Finally, according to Daniel Goleman,(3) accurate self-awareness is a core competency of emotional intelligence and is strongly correlated with self-regulation (a critical attribute for managing behavior that can lead to derailment) as a success factor in leadership effectiveness.

I will delve into the role that self-regulation plays in combating derailing behavioral tendencies in a later article. But for now, know that the counsel “know thyself” offered by the Delphic oracle thousands of years ago is still relevant today. Knowing thyself — accurate self-awareness — must be present before self-regulation of those tendencies that can derail a career is possible.

Summary

Even the best leaders can fail. But leadership failure due to derailment is particularly painful. First, it is always a surprise, comparable to an insidious disease that sneaks up on a person and unexpectedly wreaks havoc in their life. And more often than not, derailment is born from the person’s strengths. Consider what happens in the body when the production of otherwise helpful molecules becomes extreme (e.g., inflammatory molecules that are typically beneficial because they enhance the immune response, contribute to inflammatory diseases when excessive). Similarly, strengths are advantageous but create problems when they are extreme or inappropriate to the situation.

A lack accurate self-awareness also increases the chances that elite professionals will become derailed in their careers. Without knowing what it is about yourself that can cause you to get in your own way, you won’t be able to avoid behavior that works against you.

Furthermore, a biased self-perception that is at odds with the observations of others creates an erroneous picture for the leader as to their effectiveness and a false sense of security. If perception is reality, then accurate self-awareness must include a true understanding of how the leader is viewed by others in the organization.

References

1. Kaplan RE, and Kaiser RB. Fear Your Strengths: What You Are Best at Could Be Your Biggest Problem. Oakland, CA: Barrett-Koehler Publishers; 2013.

2. Fleenor JW, Smither JW, Atwater LE, Braddy PW, and Sturm RE. (2010). Self–other Rating Agreement in Leadership: A Review. The Leadership Quarterly. 21: 1005–34.

3. Goleman D. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than I.Q. New York, NY: Bantam Books; 1995.