Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1126183
06.06.19 13 OPINION Hubris Kevin-James Fenech Kevin is the founder and owner of JOB Search - jobsearch.mt and FENCI Consulting fenci.eu. He is a management consultant and business advisor by profession, focusing on strategy, human resources and recruitment. He has a passion for anything related to business and has written about the topic for over 10 years in most major newspapers or journals S uccess is invariably always fol- lowed by hubris. It doesn't have to be like this but for some rea- son it always is. 'Hubris. It gets them all in the end'. Anthony Joshua should never have lost to Andy Ruiz last Saturday. Nokia from a position of complete market domination arrogantly underestimat- ed the iPhone. David Cameron should never have called a referendum over Europe. Hubris. The disgraced Kevin Spacey, ironi- cally, summed it up rather well, when he said: 'We are all victims of our hu- bris at times'. Personally, I don't accept the inevi- tability of hubris but I wouldn't blame anyone for claiming so. History is littered with great leaders who achieved a lot and then hubris makes this ugly appearance and when everyone least expects it. Alexander the Great, Julius Cesare, Winston Churchill, Tony Blair, Putin, Donald Trump, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, etc, were/are all victims of their hubris. I think detachment from reality and overconfidence, classic traits, can be avoided if leaders are adequately coached and mentored. I recently re-watched the classic film Coach Carter and the underlying mes- sage is simple, powerful and apt. The group is always more important than the individual; hard work and disci- pline beats talent (always); self-sacri- fice and humility trumps (excuse the pun) big egos; everyone has a leader- ship role to play. The problem with today's modI am thinking of Cristiano Ronaldo, Don- ald Trump or Miley Cyrus, for exam- ple, and the one thing they all have in common is an insatiable thirst for individual success and a very big ego. We need our modern leaders, be they from the world of politics, sports and/or business, to get back in touch with the values of an older generation and a past era. Jim Collins in his seminal research on Leadership claims that the truly great leaders (what he calls 'level 5') have two things in common: humility and will. In fact, he talks about 'great' CEOs who have a genuine humility about their success '…the real antithesis of arrogance…'. Jim Collins explains how great leaders put the 'greater good' of the organisa- tion ahead of their own personal egos; how they shy away from personal fame or glorification; how they prefer small steps of improvement by the team rather than big steps by the 'hero'; or how they prefer a low profile quiet life to a flamboyant high-profile one. Unfortunately, the modern leader is more likely to have narcissism, egoism and self-love as common traits rather than humility. We need a Maltese ver- sion of Coach Carter to mentor and develop our young leaders about the importance of humility, honesty and hard-work. The Maltese leaders of the previous century understood this only too well. The post-second world war thought them the value of hard work, commit- ment and patience. Today, it is almost the default that everyone thinks of no. 1 first and craves for instant (individual) gratifi- cation. We need to start nurturing the right type of leaders today and before we run out of them. What makes a country great is the number of 'leaders' at all levels and strata of society; from polyclinics/ health centres, local councils, political parties, NGOs, press/media, sports teams, businesses (small, medium & large), social media influencers, etc. Failure to invest in tomorrow's lead- ers, will mean that hubris will reign supreme and Malta will end up like one of those Hollywood films about the ills and decline of American soci- ety with a Maltese version of Donald Trump playing a leading role. And before you remind me that 'leaders are born not made'. I disagree. Well, I agree that natural leaders are born but that shouldn't stop us from coaching, mentoring and developing individuals to become future leaders. For example, I observe from afar, the coach of my son's water polo team (at Under 13 level). This coach is literally transforming them from boys to young men in a similar way Coach Carter does in the film. His philosophy: You earn your place in the first seven through merit; no one is big/good enough not to getting the Ferguson 'hair dryer' treatment; the collective is always more impor- tant than individual glory; commit- ment and hard-work are more impor- tant than natural talent; etc. I know that irrespective of whether or not these kids make it into profes- sional water polo, they will grow up with values that make great leaders and when they enter the real world, they will be well equipped for whatev- er life throws at them. Let's be frank: we live in an 'Age of Arrogance' were hubris is becoming common currency. This having been said we are still in time to change course; yet we must invest in tomor- row's leaders now. I don't mean an academic exercise of pontification; I mean mentoring, role models and val- ue-based education. From my years of advising CEOs of all types, I think the difference be- tween 'I serve' and 'I lead' is the dif- ferent between good/ok and great leaders. Since the best CEOs were the ones who successfully transformed people around them into fantastic managers or leaders of tomorrow. Let's therefore anticipate a hubris epidemic and invest in our future leaders. Kevin Spacey: 'We are all victims of our hubris at times'