Leaders: Be The Hero, Not The Villain

How do we become less villain-like and more hero-like?

Judging by the plethora of Marvel and DC Comics movies that come out on a regular basis, we have become quite familiar with both heroes and villains. Both tend to play similar roles.

The heroes are the good guys who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of others. The villains are the bad guys. But, here is the thing about them, they don’t see themselves as the “bad guy.”

You see, they generally have a chip on their shoulder, which if we get all psychological about it, is connected to some deep-seated fears and insecurities. These fears and insecurities drive them to engage in negative behaviors to feed those fears and insecurities. To them, these behaviors are fully justified and seem like the appropriate course of action. But to others, these behaviors are destructive.
 

In light of this, ask yourself, are leaders typically more hero-like or villain-like?

Consider these statistics, and you be the judge:
 

These statistics suggest that leaders are generally more villain-like than hero-like. But, if you were to ask leaders, they generally see themselves as the hero.

Why is there a disconnect?

As I work with leaders across organizations, I increasingly realize that the reason why leaders are more villain-like than leader-like is the same reason why villains are villains: they have fears and insecurities that driven them to engage in fully-justified (to them), yet negative, behaviors. These leaders are extremely well-intended, but despite their best intentions, they are generally unable to see how their fears and insecurities get in their way. 

Let me give share an example I commonly give to leaders to demonstrate this.

Consider an employee within a hedge fund that forgets to put in a trade for a client and the money just sits there in cash. By the time the mistake is discovered, the damage is several hundred thousand dollars.

If you were the employees’ manager, what would you do in this situation?

Most of the time, leaders respond by saying that the employee needs to be let go. They feel they need to send a message that this type of behavior cannot be tolerated and that there needs to be a sense of justice.

This situation actually occurred to Ray Dalio, when he was the CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the largest and most successful hedge fund of all time.

Here is how Dalio dealt with the situation:

“It was a terrible and costly error, and I could’ve done something dramatic like fire Ross to set a tone that mistakes would not be tolerated. But since mistakes happen all the time, that would have only encouraged other people to hide theirs, which would have led to even bigger and more costly errors.”

Which response is more hero-like (sacrifice for the greater good), and which is more villain-like (feeding fear and insecurities)?

You see, the leaders who are prone to fire the employee, they are generally driven by a fear of problems, and thus they engage in an action that they think will reduce problems. But, that is not necessarily the case. Problems are inevitable, so they are not likely to succeed in reducing problems, but they are likely to succeed in reducing the problems that come to light. There is a difference.

So, how do we become less villain-like and more hero-like?

One of the keys is to awaken to our fears and insecurities. Until we awaken to these fears and insecurities, we will continue to engage in justified and well-intended behaviors that lead to the abysmal leadership statistics presented previously.

There are four primary (and common) fears that unintentionally bring out the worst in leaders.
 

Nearly all dysfunctional leadership can be tied back to these fears.

After you awaken to your fears, you can then be empowered to operate more hero-like, which involves the antitheses to these fears:
 

If you would like a free assessment to either assess how hero- or villain-like you are, I invite you to take my free personal mindset assessment.