When Talented People Derail

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When Talented People Derail
Morgan McCall Marshall School of
Business University of Southern California San
Diego Society for Industrial and Organizational
Psychology October 16, 2008
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THE DYNAMICS OF DERAILMENT

• Early strengths become weaknesses
• Long standing flaws matter in a new situation
• Arrogance triumphs
• People run into bad luck

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• Early strengths become weaknesses
• His intelligence stopped being an asset
• and became a hindrance. He used it to
• find reasons why things should not be done
• a new way.

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His tragic flaw is not incidental to Oedipus
but is, rather, essential to his admirable
character. He is strong, courageous,
self-possessed, taking charge and striding boldly
where others fear to go the very qualities that
foretell his undoing. -Thomas Cahill, Sailing
the Wine Dark Sea
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Is there such a thing as an unqualified
strength?
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Each passage requires that people acquire a new
way of managing and leading and leave the old
ways behind The highest-performing people,
especially, are reluctant to change they want to
keep doing the activities that made them
successful. -Charan, Drotter, Noel, The
Leadership Pipeline
Many CEOs on their way to becoming spectacularly
unsuccessful accelerated their companys decline
simply by reverting to what they regard as the
tried and tested. -Finkelstein, Why
Smart Executives Fail
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Learning from a passage isnt possible
unlessyou admit that some of the very
attributes, qualities, attitudes, and skills that
made you successful in the past wont necessarily
make you successful in the future and that your
old knowledge may no longer be applicable.
-Dotlich, Noel, Walker, Leadership
Passages
The transition to manager is not limited to
acquiring competencies and building
relationships. Rather it constitutes a profound
transformation They had to let go of the old
-Linda Hill, Becoming a Manager
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• Significant Leadership Passages (Transitions)
  that Require
• Giving up some strengths
• Acquiring new strengths

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(Charan, Drotter, Noel, The Leadership Pipeline)
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IMPLICATIONS?

• Adding strengths is more motivating than fixing
  flaws.
• Are there some strengths you want to add to your
  existing repertoire?
• Are there some strengths that you are
  overplaying that you need to back off of?
• Are there some strengths that you need to give
  up to move past in order to move ahead?

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• Early strengths become weaknesses
• Long standing flaws matter in a new situation
• He got some results people didnt
• look at the means. He was impatient
• and acted as if he always knew the answer.
• He wasnt able to mobilize support
• through consensus, which was important
• to getting things done at senior levels.

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Why havent you done something about a weakness
you know is a problem?
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The 10 Fatal Flaws

• Flaws that Interfere with Setting Direction
• Overmanaging
• Overly Tactical
• Poor Staffing

• Flaws that Interfere with Adapting to Change
• Cant Handle Trouble when it Comes
• Cant Adapt to a Boss with a Different Style
• Overdependent on a Mentor

• Flaws that Interfere with Aligning Others
• Insensitivity
• Cold and Aloof
• Betray a Trust
• Overly Ambitious

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What if you want to fix something you think is
a weakness?
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IMPLICATIONS?

• Why havent your flaws hurt you?
• Why havent you changed things you know need to
  change? Can you change what keeps you from
  changing?
• Can you change a weakness just enough so it isnt
  fatal?
• Can you learn a new strength that is the opposite
  of a weakness, perhaps by watching people who are
  good at it?
• Can you develop the skills necessary to offset or
  compensate for your weaknesses?

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• Early strengths become weaknesses
• Long standing flaws matter in a new situation
• Arrogance triumphs

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A tenth rule might be this A good leader should
be humble enough to deal with success. We are
widely regarded as the best car maker. This is
a situation ripe for the rise of conceit. The
good leader never falls victim to
self-satisfaction, or arrogance, or
schadenfreude, a delight in the misfortune of
others. -Yoshio Ishizaka, Executive Vice
President Toyota Motor Corporation
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How could you tell if your self-confidence was
becoming arrogance?
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IMPLICATIONS?

• Arrogance is self confidence carried to an
  extreme.
• Success often feeds arrogance.
• If others see you as arrogant, it matters, even
  if you arent.
• If you are arrogant, I cant help you.
• There are signs to tell you what others think, if
  you care to look for them.
• If you are suspicious, you are probably right.

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Dangerous Situations

• Trouble
• New Territory
• International Assignment
• Trails over Time

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DERAILMENT PATTERNS FOR OUTSIDE HIRES
BRIGHT, GOOD TRACK RECORD, GOOD
FIRST IMPRESSION, BUT...
SELECTION ERRORS
UNDER GREAT PRESSURE TO QUICKLY PROVE THEMSELVES
AND GET RESULTS, MAY NOT HAVE TIME TO LEARN AND
MAY NOT GET ANY HELP.
UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
DOESNT KNOW HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS
DOESNT KNOW KEY PLAYERS
IMPATIENCE FOR RESULTS
MAY NOT KNOW THE BUSINESS OR SHARE THE
VALUES
LITTLE HELP OR SUPPORT
Organizations Mistakes
Outsiders Mistakes
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• Early strengths become weaknesses
• Long standing flaws matter in a new situation
• Arrogance raises its hoary head
• People run into bad luck
• He was the wrong person in the wrong
• role in the wrong country at the wrong
• time, and the deal cratered. It was a
• disaster although it was not totally his
• fault.

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What have you learned about yourself from the bad
stuff thats happened to you?
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Reflections for Identifying a Development Goal

• Ive been successful because of
• Will this carry me in the future?
• Ive been successful in spite of
• Will this hurt me in the future?
• Being successful has made me
• The hardships Ive been through have taught me
• To be successful in this or the next job, I need
  to learn

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