A friend of mine recently pointed out an article that every leader in an organization should read. The focus of the article is about the cost ego has to an organization's P&L (Profit & Loss). I believe most of these lessons and principals can be applied to life in general, in that how we deal with people on a daily basis has a lot to do with our ego. The bottom line to the article is the ego is misunderstood and can be both and asset and a liability. The article breaks ego down into something they call egonomics. There are three main parts of egonomics and they are:

Humility

Curiosity

Veracity

I also really like how they redefine humility. The truth is humility and confidence are not at odds with each other. Humility simply means you understand you do not know everything. Humility means you are still willing to listen and you are open to other ideas. Just because it was your idea or your decision does not mean it was the right one, nor that is has to be backed up at all costs. Companies need to make sure they reward people for making the right decisions. This does not mean rewarding people because their idea was the right one. Leaders that can identify that their decision was wrong and take corrective action are more valuable then those who defend their idea at all cost to prove their idea was right.

“Without a clear understanding of what humility is, it can be seen as a trait best
left to special causes and religious leaders, but not business people. If humility
seems to be an outdated concept in a fiercely competitive world, it’s because
humility is misunderstood, understudied, and underestimated.”

Bottom line is we need to understand what type of balance we have with our ego (do we have a good balance of humility, curiosity and veracity) and work to achieve and maintain the right balance so our ego is an asset to us and not a liability.

Read the full article here