Two you can do without.

 

 

Historically we have sought out those individuals who have the drive and willingness to take risks.  These high achievers will, we hope, take us to new and higher levels of success. While this may be true some of the time, in my experience there is a greater risk when we mistakenly hire people who fall into one of these two categories.

The first group I call the ‘Icarus Idiots’.  These people are characterized by their willingness to take more and more risks in an effort to achieve that which has never been achieved.  Their reward is the fame and glory of potentially attaining the unattainable.

There are two major problems with this personality. 

1.    They require an inordinate amount of support from others.  Thus they drain limited resources in vain pursuits.

2.    If they do manage to achieve their goal, they seldom share the success with others as they are driven by the need for personal recognition, not team success.  Chemistry is not in their vocabulary and in the long term this attitude will tear apart an otherwise productive group.

Group number two I will call the ‘Lazarus Lunatics’.  People in this group do not recognize risks per se.  Icarus at least knows there may be failure but is willing to chance it.  Lazarus cannot even see the risk.  They tend to move in one direction only and will ignore the advice and input of others.  In their minds it’s ‘…my way or the highway…’

Again there are two major issues.

1.    Lazarus does not care about the costs of failure.  Whereas Icarus knows that the consequences of failure fall primary on him, Lazarus ignores the potential of a broader impact. This attitude is as self- serving as Icarus but comes with more collateral damage.

2.     Icarus learned his lesson the hard way and died, unable to repeat his mistakes.  Lazarus somehow arises from the dead to ‘live’ another day.  He learns nothing and cares not about the aftermath of failure.  Thus he is likely to continue his recklessness until formally checked.

As I mentioned in the opening, we all look for those unique personalities that we hope will deliver the results we are looking to achieve.  However when those individuals cannot operate successfully in a team environment, you will have introduced an element of risk that is seldom rewarded in a manner commensurate with your expectations.

Chemistry and character almost always outweigh competence.  Icarus and Lazarus are remembered in history, but not for what they achieved.

Keep that in mind as you look for the leaders in your scope of responsibility.