“The desert monks were not moralists concerned that others behave in a proper way so much as people acutely aware of their own weaknesses who tried to see their situation clearly without the distortions of pride, ambition, or anger.” -Kathleen Norris
P2 is now in full swing and we’re swamped with group projects and commitments. We all survived the P1 grades, some of us more so than others, but I observed an interesting phenomenon. Because I have no background in statistics, economics, or finance, I fully expected the worst. I opened the envelope with my P1 grades and smiled, because I passed all my classes and performed better than I expected. In contrast several of my classmates were quite cocky about how they would perform and were quite upset at only earning average grades.
By way of analogy, recent cancer patient studies have shown absolutely no difference in survival outcomes between optimistic vs. pessimistic patients. So is performance unrelated to mindset? It’s tough to say whether my under-confidence helped my performance, and whether my classmates were harmed by their over-confidence, but I can’t help wonder if there might be a value in humility.
One of the themes I am trying to explore this year at INSEAD, is the value of humility vs. overconfidence and arrogance in leadership styles. I became interested in the topic when I observed the leadership styles of our clients at work.
I quickly learned that corporate politics demand a certain showmanship. Part of your value as a professional is your ability to deliver the goods with embellishment. The trick I learned, is to avoid believing your own hyperbole.
