OUR minds, like our businesses, have standard operating systems.
It’s like this lens placed before our eyes affecting the way we view reality and make decisions. Achievements come with a clear perspective while setbacks occur when we operate based on fallacies.
Fallacies are mistaken beliefs or a faulty reasoning. We used to hear about these fallacies from our logic or philosophy professors as a poor way of framing arguments. In the simplest word, fallacies are deceptions.
They seem petty or harmless when you’re just arguing in the classroom trying to prove a moot point.
They take on a more sinister feature when we realize that they’re a haunting shadow that has the capacity to create havoc in both our personal and professional lives.
One of the most common sinkholes in business and personal relationship is the illusion of superiority.
Superiority complex is not to be confused with healthy self-confidence. The latter recognizes both capacity and limitations, while the former exhibits recklessness, lawless entitlement, and is blinded by pure ego.
When the delusion of superiority reigns supreme in how a person deals with things, some success may come but they don’t last very long.
Eventually, the person or the organization eats himself or itself to the bone, leaving behind the ruins of their own making.
In order to be proactive, it is imperative that leaders commit themselves to motivational programs that are also on guard against the pitfalls of superiority fallacies.
And the first step to this is recognizing the following top three business superiority fallacies according to Kevin Erickson of credera.com:
FALLACY 1: We are better than the competition
Overconfidence anchors us to the belief that positive or negative trends will continue in our favor. In an “above average” world, we believe that we know best. This bias clouds judgment and results in an underestimation of the competition, a misunderstanding of the needs of our customers, and a belief that change is not required to maintain current success.
FALLACY 2: Everyone should be like Kevin
The “above average effect” negatively impacts an organization’s ability to foster teams who value the diversity of skills. When individuals compare themselves to others, they highlight their own strengths and focus on other peoples’ weaknesses.
Managers attribute too much value to the traits they perceive have made them personally successful and devalue the traits that have made others successful. Consider chess. Each piece on the board has a role to play and is most effective when used in their area of strength...even though every piece is very different.
FALLACY 3: Failure is not an option
“Above average” individuals believe they are unlikely to fail. This false belief results in individuals that have an unhealthy view of risk. Every healthy person fails and learns from their failures. If you are not failing occasionally you are not taking enough risk. If you cannot remember the last time you failed at something your growth has stagnated.
He also suggested these five simple truths to combat what he called the “above average effect.”
1. You are not as good as you think you are.
2. Your competition is not as bad as you think they are.
3. You are exactly where you have chosen to be. Don’t be a victim.
4. You are directly responsible for the future.
5. To grow you must fail occasionally.
There will always be the goal of excellence in every endeavor. But we must remember how excellence is anchored on the truth and grounded on a healthy mindset.
To keep motivation and confidence as they truly are, we must keep watch that they don’t get overrated and they stay grounded in healthy perspective and reality.