The Hubris Hazard And How To Avoid It

"Hubris is something we've all seen in action and experienced all too often. It's a significant occupational hazard and a serious potential derailment factor for leaders, organizations and civil society. Hubristic leaders - intoxicated as they are with power, praise and success - behave in ways that, if left unchecked, invite unintended and unforeseen negative consequences which impact destructively on individuals, industries, economies and nations. Despite numerous examples throughout history of hubris' destructive consequences, it nonetheless appears to be an ever-present and growing danger. Leaders seem blind to the hazards of hubris and oblivious to the lessons of history. Prevention is better than cure and understanding the nature of the hubris hazard and the associated risk factors will help leaders and managers improve their personal performance and avoid derailment and, even more importantly, protect the wellbeing of employees and the resilience of their organizations over the long term. This book explains the characteristics, causes and consequences of hubris, and shows how to combat the significant hazard it poses to managers, leaders, organizations and civil society. With contemporary examples, each chapter explores a particular 'hubris risk factor' and shows how the risk can be managed and mitigated and exposure to the hubris hazard minimized. The Hubris Hazard, and How to Avoid It offers practical guidance and action points for managers and leaders on how to recognize hubris in themselves and others and what to do to combat it when it arises. It will also be useful for business and executive coaches and leadership trainers and developers"--

Hubris is something we’ve all seen in action and experienced all too often. It’s a significant occupational hazard and a serious potential derailment factor for leaders, organisations, and civil society. Hubristic leaders - intoxicated as they are with power, praise, and success–behave in ways that, if left unchecked, invite unintended and unforeseen negative consequences which impact destructively on individuals, industries, economies, and nations. Despite numerous examples throughout history of hubris’ destructive consequences, it nonetheless appears to be an ever-present and growing danger. Many leaders seem to be blind to the hazards of hubris and oblivious to the lessons of history. Prevention is better than cure and understanding the nature of the hubris hazard and the associated risk factors will help leaders and managers improve their personal performance and avoid derailment and, even more importantly, protect the well-being of employees and the resilience of their organisations over the long term. This book explains the characteristics, causes, and consequences of hubris, and shows how to combat the significant hazard it poses to managers, leaders, organisations, and society. With contemporary examples, each chapter explores a particular ‘hubris risk factor’ and shows how the risk can be managed and mitigated and exposure to the hubris hazard minimised. The Hubris Hazard, and How to Avoid It offers practical guidance and action points for managers and leaders on how to recognise hubris in themselves and others and what to do to combat it when it arises. It will also be useful for business and executive coaches and leadership trainers and developers.

Though U.S. leaders try to convince the world of their success in fighting al Qaeda, one anonymous member of the U.S. intelligence community would like to inform the public that we are, in fact, losing the war on terror. Further, until U.S. leaders recognize the errant path they have irresponsibly chosen, he says, our enemies will only grow stronger. According to the author, the greatest danger for Americans confronting the Islamist threat is to believe-at the urging of U.S. leaders-that Muslims attack us for what we are and what we think rather than for what we do. Blustering political rhetor.

The Routledge Critical Companion to Leadership Studies offers a rich and insightful overview of critical leadership studies for students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners. The volume draws together 35 chapters from 56 authors who represent the vibrant diversity of the critical leadership community. It includes chapters from emerging and preeminent scholars who share an interest in directing leadership theorizing, development and practice toward the aims of liberation, justice, and equity. The Companion is organized into six themes: (1) philosophical perspectives on leadership; (2) processes, practices, and power dynamics in leadership; (3) diversity and leadership; (4) leadership education and development; (5) lessons from the dark side of leadership; and (6) reimagining leadership and leadership studies. The book has been curated to serve as a "go to" resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students, academic staff, and researchers seeking to understand the current state of play on a given topic, as well as inspiration for how they might contribute to its development. Each chapter provides a comprehensive yet succinct review of contemporary literature and offers the reader avenues for future research. Leadership practitioners will also find provocative ideas among these pages to help them interrogate and transform the ways they lead.

The real story behind the investigation of Iraq, and the basis for the MSNBC documentary of the same name hosted by Rachel Maddow Filled with news-making revelations that made it a New York Times bestseller, Hubris takes us behind the scenes at the White House, CIA, Pentagon, State Department, and Congress to show how George W. Bush came to invade Iraq--and how his administration struggled with the devastating fallout. Hubris connects the dots between Bush's expletive-laden outbursts at Saddam Hussein, the bitter battles between the CIA and the White House, the fights within the intelligence community over Saddam's supposed weapons of mass destruction, the outing of an undercover CIA officer, and the Bush administration's misleading sales campaign for war. Written by veteran reporters Michael Isikoff and David Corn, this is an inside look at how a president took the nation to war using faulty and fraudulent intelligence. It's a dramatic page-turner and an intriguing account of conspiracy, backstabbing, bureaucratic ineptitude, journalistic malfeasance, and arrogance.

This edited collection surveys and analyses the multidimensional problem of Hubris syndrome, and its deleterious effect on leadership within organisations. The study develops an extended metaphor of the social and political ill of Hubris as a virulent, communicable disease of dysfunctional leadership, illustrating its ubiquity and potential for serious harm. Taking a biological perspective to understand the possible underlying mechanisms as well as the environments in which hubris has been found to thrive, contributors emphasise the notion of prevention over cure. Divided into three sections, The Leadership Hubris Epidemic examines psychological, neuroendocrinological and neuropsychological approaches to the biology of Hubris, explores factors that encourage or inhibit its growth, and finally provides methods for preventing or retarding its development. This book has huge interdisciplinary appeal and scholars of biology, psychology, sociology, management, and politics will find the topic extremely useful, as well as anyone who is interested in the structure and governance of organisations.

"The book explores problems and issues that have emerged in national and international discussion of policies to address climate change. It concludes that every solution put forward by the UN and activists poses more problems than might ever emerge from the marginal human impact on natural climate change. Rather than mitigation, governments should focus on adaptation. As is, climate change discussions have become captive of a utopian agenda that is using climate change as a stalking horse to drive alarm in the hope that it will convince governments to act."--

Investigating the societal, economic, financial and reputational costs of hubristic leadership, with insights into the characteristics and causes of this phenomenon, and recommended safeguards to avoid hubris from happening in the first place. As research into hubristic leadership becomes increasingly popular following recent political developments, the book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach to investigating this form of leadership. Outlining what causes hubristic leadership in the first place, the author looks at how it’s potentially destructive consequences can be anticipated and avoided through an informed stance of moderation, critical analysis and reflexivity. Examples are drawn from business and politics including the Lehmann Brothers, BP and Deepwater Horizon, Blair and Bush in the Iraq Invasion, NASA, and Donald Trump. Ideal reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students in business and management, leadership, and organizational behaviour. Check out the Hubris Hub for further information on hubristic leadership, including a regularly updated blog written by author Eugene Sadler-Smith.

In today's fast paced, interconnected, and mercilessly competitive business world, senior executives have to push themselves and others hard. Paradoxically, to succeed as leaders, they also need to relate to others very well. Under stress and challenge, the qualities executives have relied on to get them to the top and to achieve outstanding results can overshoot into unhelpful drives that lead to business and personal catastrophes.The Leadership Shadow draws on the lived experience of executives to make sense of what actually happens when their drivers overshoot and they act out the dark side of leadership. It shows how executives can find stability in the face of uncertainty, resilience in the face of gruelling demand, and psychological equilibrium as a leader in the face of turbulence.

Decline can be avoided. Decline can be detected. Decline can be reversed. Amidst the desolate landscape of fallen great companies, Jim Collins began to wonder: How do the mighty fall? Can decline be detected early and avoided? How far can a company fall before the path toward doom becomes inevitable and unshakable? How can companies reverse course? In How the Mighty Fall, Collins confronts these questions, offering leaders the well-founded hope that they can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course. Collins' research project—more than four years in duration—uncovered five step-wise stages of decline: Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death By understanding these stages of decline, leaders can substantially reduce their chances of falling all the way to the bottom. Great companies can stumble, badly, and recover. Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline. There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall and most eventually do. But, as Collins' research emphasizes, some companies do indeed recover—in some cases, coming back even stronger—even after having crashed into the depths of Stage 4. Decline, it turns out, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or even our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fall, but they can often rise again.