What is your Ego to Capability Ratio?
By Greg Duerksen, President
The best executives blend ego and ability. Kincannon & Reed president Greg Duerksen describes how he created the concept of an Ego to Capability Ratio and how it applies to you.
Some twenty years ago I had a philosophical discussion with Charles McKenzie, a mentor of mine at Terra Industries. Charles, now retired, is wonderfully wise. In contrast, I was not very wise, but supremely self confident and highly ambitious to boot. Nevertheless, as a modicum of self awareness emerged during our conversation, I apologized to Charles about the size of my ego. He startled me by abruptly cutting me off, "Greg, never apologize for your ego, because without a strong ego you won’t accomplish squat. But ask yourself: Is it all about you? Or is it all about the people you work with and for?"
That challenge stuck with me and has helped me align and redirect my attitudes over the years. In our search practice, we ask the same question about candidates and define our assessment as the "Ego to Capability Ratio".
The Capability denominator is pretty straightforward. What blend of intellect, skills, experience, work ethic, action orientation, and results focus does the candidate bring to the party? Is s/he strong in all of these factors or is there a big weak spot?
The Ego numerator must first and foremost be a positive number. A focus on customers, colleagues, and competitors coupled with a healthy, intellectually honest, and occasionally self critical confidence yields a strong positive figure. In contrast, you get a negative result if you have too much of a "what’s in it for me" attitude that does not recognize the importance and contributions of the team. Of course, no successful executive is without ambition, so the issue is balance to ensure that our individual ego numerators are positive.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if your Ego number is positive: When you think back on your career, of what are you proudest? Is it predominantly individual achievements, or more team results? Do you spend as much time developing and coaching others as you do plotting your own advancement?
What do you do if someone on your team clearly has a negative ego to capability ratio? What about that prima donna in R&D or sales? Such a person is likely to be defensive about their own self-centeredness. In our experience, simply pointing out that the negative ratio is a career-limiting factor is likely to positively affect attitude; then diligent mentoring will be necessary to alter behavior. But if the ratio does not become positive, it does not mean that the person should be pushed out of the company. Rather, s/he will need to be placed in more of an individual contributor role.
At a recent client meeting I was asked, somewhat tongue in cheek, "So Greg, what IS the best Ego to Capability Ratio?" The answer is, "One."
© 2009 Kincannon & Reed. All Rights Reserved.
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