I’ve come to see arrogance as a chameleon. In my younger years, arrogance seemed like harmless boasting. But now it feels like a more subtle force that can affect not just people, but companies too.
I don’t like to brag, so I never saw myself as arrogant. The truth is, arrogance is something many people struggle with, me included.
Until a few years ago, I found myself in many dialogs listening to others while wearing invisible headphones. The thoughts streaming in were my own while others spoke. I didn’t listen as well as I should have because I thought I knew what the person was going to say, or I thought I knew better. I couldn’t wait for a pause so I could share my perspective. I now see this as a form of arrogance. Any time I catch myself not listening intently, I see it as arrogance. It is me making assumptions and me wanting to be heard – presumption meeting insecurity. With the help of some amazing mentors, my brother John Heyman (Radiant’s CEO) included, I’ve looked in the mirror and I didn’t like so much who was staring back.
There are plenty of times I have seen a less humble and more arrogant attitude seep into companies. Here are a few examples (I am cleansing the names and being silent on which companies I have seen this with to protect the arrogant):
Jill is in charge of managing suppliers. The company she works for buys stuff from other companies, assembles it, and delivers a solution to customers. Her company has performed very well. She hasn’t visited her suppliers this year because she hasn’t had to. One of them then went out of business. She says to her boss, “It was unforeseen.” Of course it was unforeseen! How could she see what she wasn’t in front of? She assumed everything was fine, and felt falsely secure. She operated from her gut when facts were available. She was arrogant, and the customers of her company will suffer due to unfulfilled orders.
Richard is in charge of sales. He knows in a tough economic climate that customers buy value. One particular deal is about to get signed. He knows it is going to be signed because his team delivered the best price to the customer with outstanding functionality, and the customer had to change their current system. The value was not relevant – the customer had to make the investment. But is that ever true? Should a company ever dodge the value question? How likely is it that the customer has no other choice? Even if they don’t, should anyone ever act like that? It turns out, the customer found a way to stay on their current system. They cited there wasn’t a big enough business impact to make the change and figured out another way to keep their current systems alive.
An executive team of a company meets to discuss raises for employees. Jack says, “We don’t need to give raises in this economy since there are so few other companies hiring people.” Jack made a presumptuous statement, and he may not have been secure enough with himself to say, “You know what – if we don’t give raises, I don’t know how many people will leave the company.” The company acts on what Jack says.
Arrogance is hard to see and tough to kill. It starts with individuals and seeps into groups in such a stealth manner that a company can wake up out of touch. I’ve seen it happen, as some of the examples above reflect. Radiant just announced its best financial quarter in its history, and the stock rose more than every other company on NASDAQ last Friday except one, which gives us a lot to be giddy about. Now that I realize how sneaky and detrimental arrogance can be, I know it is up to my own actions and those of Radiant’s leadership team to set an example for our company to ensure we don’t fall prey to the chameleon’s trap.
Tags: andy heyman, arrogance, cocky, Executive, nasdaq: RADS, Radiant Systems employees, radiant systems leadership team
Having ridden my own personal wave of triumph and defeat due to arrogance, I applaud you for making a comment on this issue. This a great post, and provides a boost to my confidence in leadership. Well done.
Thanks. This was a great post. Its about good common sense that many people just ignore, and sometimes having it written in simple words like above is very helpful. Just made me revisit my own situation and realized all that I take for granted or just assume.
Very Well Written and Said. I enjoy reading these.
Like all your posts these thoughts apply well to business and life.
I am glad you wrote this post, I feel that arrogance is a personal battle we all have. When traits like service, respect and value are the only strengths you strive for, arrogance is left on the table.
Great post!