Organisational Hubris: Are You Blinded By Achievements?

“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose. And it’s an unreliable guide to the future.”

Bill Gates

Hubris (/ˈhjuːbrɪs), an ancient Greece word that has caused almost all the tragedies in history and literature. Hubris is an extreme and unreasonable feeling of pride and confidence in oneself. It is an excessive arrogance and self-confidence that brings down a hero to zero. It does not matter how high one has climbed; hubris is usually the beginning of an end. How can one avoid this disaster? How can you tell if you are already on the ascent of this upside-down hubris ladder?

Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers of all time nearly moved from hero to zero. He experienced a sudden downfall due to an illicit affair that cost him his marriage.  Following Woods’ divorce were a series of health and emotional trauma that prevented him from winning any major trophy in 10 years, 9 months and 29days. However, when he won the Fifth Masters Jacket recently, it was a remarkable comeback!

Before the decline in his fortune, He was riding high on the wave of success without taking cognisance of the banana peels that always comes with success.  He got divorced in August 2010, lost almost all the endorsement contracts. As if not enough, he had an auto accident and was arrested in Florida in 2017 for DUI. Success is indeed a tough call. 

He made an emotional statement at his confessional press conference of 2010.

“I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to… I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have to go far to find them. I was wrong. I was foolish.”

Success is Great But…

The experience of Tiger Woods may not be far-fetched from what many organisations have experienced. The hubris for many organisations comes from believing that they know it all.

Recently, I went to pitch a capacity development program to the head of the strategy of a major corporation, he is an extremely talented young man, with global education and experience. His reply connoted a-know-it-all mentality. He said, “We know what we need, we know the business we are into, we need no one to show us the way because we know the way”.  I was stunned by a clear demonstration of hubris from someone who should have known better. Organisational hubris manifest when there are deliberate violations of laws and ethics, weak governance structure, undermining competition or unconsciously taking customers for granted.

Often, a seemingly unrelated incident triggers a scandal which may see the achievements of an organisation wipe off suddenly.  In a not-too-interesting encounter with a corporate executive giant, Jim Collin, narrated the concern of a corporate executive who told him

“When you are at the top of the world, the most powerful nation on Earth, the most successful company in your industry, the best player in your game, your very power and success might cover up the fact that you’re already on the path to decline. So, how would you know?” How many successful individuals or organisations ask this type of question when they are on the climb to the peak of their glory?

Success is great, but it can also be deceitful. It gives us a feeling of invincibility and blissfulness. Success has a huge tendency to close our eyes against blind spots, bringing us both deserved and undeserved attention. Before getting lost in the euphoria of praises and accolades that come with the attainment of success, it is imperative to be conscious of the fact that just like bad times, good times never last forever, this is both true for organisations and individuals.

There are stories of global organisations like Motorola, Blackberry, Blockbuster, Kodak, Enron, and Nokia that have moved from hero to zero. There are also local stories like Okada Airline, Albaraka Air, Kabo Airline, Intercontinental Bank, Diamond Bank, Odutola Tyres, Concord Group, that have followed suit. At the height of their success, these firms were like the rock of Gibraltar, and until tomorrow, scholars are still studying what went wrong. Some of them are today, wholly buried (Kodak, Enron, Blockbuster) while others have declined from iconic organisations to average institutions. Descent to obscurity is usually a gradual process, and the best way to nip it in the bud is through an in-depth study of organisational culture.  However, it’s important to note that recognising the presence of hubris can be a significant challenge for organisations having said that, it is crucial that diligence is applied to the discovery and extermination of the arrogance that accompanies success to prevent the impending doom that comes with hubris.

From the Iconic to the Irrelevant

Lessons can be learnt to ensure that you and your organisation are not lost in the self-deceit of the “too strong to fall” or “too good to fail” syndrome like some iconic brands that have fallen.

1. Recognise Patterns in Disruptive Trends: around us are patterns for failure or success. Jeremy Gutsche, the author of Better and Faster, said “Patterns surround us. We eat them, see them, smell them, taste them, and walk past them every day. However, most people fail to connect the dots.”  Pattern recognition enables you to avoid failure or empower you to explore opportunities even in unlikely places. The beginning of decline is when individuals or corporation refuse to see opportunities in other people’s views except as it resonates with their biases. Established by David Cook in 1985, Blockbuster an America video rental company had on three occasions, the opportunities to buy Netflix. However, the presence of hubris made it decline the offer to buy Netflix for just $50million which was the asking price offered to Blockbuster by Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings in the year 2000. Since the episode, the two companies have different experiences in their fortune.  In 2010, Blockbuster had 9094 stores, 25,000 employees, and $3.24billion in revenue; however, by 2019, it had become defunct with only one store left. However, Netflix has grown globally; it is currently in 190 countries, with US$15.794 billion revenue, US$1.211 net income. Today Netflix is a US$53.20billion compared to blockbuster US$5billion at its peak.  To maintain relevance, you must continue to innovatively recognise disruptive patterns and explore opportunities that have the potential to disrupt your position.
2. Avoid “Deservation” and Embrace Grace Mentality: sometimes an array of achievements tempt us to think that we deserve everything and we could do away with anything.  The wrong perception of success as experienced by Tiger Woods, can lead to an entitlement mentality and facilitate the beginning of a decline.  How do you perceive success? Is it something that is purely achieved based on superior offerings, talented staff, careful processes, incredible network and robust cash flow? Alternatively, is the something that is facilitated by pure grace through the help of others? A “deservation” mentality believes that having all the right apparatus makes you deserve a win. Such thinking breeds arrogance, and when you achieve the success, it could make you treat others with a wave of the hand as Blockbuster did to Netflix. A grace mentality on the other hands compels you to work creatively and innovatively. It makes you conscious of losing your advantageous position; therefore, you are constantly reinventing yourself with a deep sense of gratitude. It breeds humility, hard work and transparency. Having the grace mentality encourages you to establish and uphold your core values lest you end up on a wrong path. The outcomes of the deservation mentality and the grace mentality are almost always opposite. Insight: the winning mindset is the learning mindset; the ground is always shifting. Thinking of, creating or adapting to the changing circumstances is a vital ingredient in maintaining iconic positions.
3. Remember, Innovation Does not live In Past Glories: past accomplishment is no guarantee for future success. Founded on September 25, 1928, Motorola was a leading light in the area of advanced technology. It created the first walkie-talkie used by the military, produced the first in-car radiotelephone, the first world pager and its radio technology enabled Neil Armstrong, the first man to land on the moon to communicate to the earth. The company was first in many things, in April 1973, Motorola engineers led by Martin Cooper produced the world’s first functioning cellular mobile phone. In 1991 the company released the world’s first GSM cellular handset (Motorola 3200). In 1993 it manufactured the world’s first mobile phone using the GSM 1800MHz band (Motorola m300). Motorola was the largest mobile phone producer before Nokia overtook it in 1998 (who unfortunately has also been displaced). Past glory belongs to yesterday. To stay successful, you must be hungry daily for a new feat that stretches your creative mind.
4. Leave the Comfort Zone and Embrace Creative Destruction: the disrupted organisations did not die for lack of innovation but fear of self-disrupting their current business model. Though Kodak Engineer, Steve Sasson, pioneered the digital photography in 1975, Kodak management’s reaction was, ‘that’s cute—but don’t tell anyone about it.” Sasson was a brilliant scientist and was convinced that his new invention would be the camera of the future; however, the management believed that print looked better and embracing digital photography will be creative destruction to their existing film print technology. Besides they were not sure, the quality of digital photography will match that of film photography. Jeremy Gutsche, the author of Better and Faster, said: “I’ve learned that the only thing more powerful than an idea is the culture that nourishes it—or that prevents it from taking root.” Unfortunately for Kodak, its culture is little tolerant of disruptive ideas, and today Kodak belongs in the past. To stay afloat of success you must constantly get out of your comfort zone, hubris makes us complacent, and humility makes us hunger for more creative ideas.
5. Cherish and Nourish your Key Partners: Having achieve successes, experiencing failure is always very difficult however when there is a downfall, the humble and resilient organisation will deal with the shame and pick up the pieces that are left. Tiger Woods, recorded a remarkable comeback because he recognised the presence of hubris in his life and chose to deal with it before it brings him to ground zero. Though he was abandoned by most of his sponsors like AT&T, Gatorade, Gillette, Accenture, Golf Digest, and Tag Heuer. However, in the most difficult situation, there will always be one or two that will stand by us. Nike stood by him, and today they both should be proud of Woods’ comeback. Successful organisations don’t take their key partners for granted; they cherish and nourish them even in a difficult situation. Recognise your key partners and never take them for granted.

Conclusion

In his book, How the mighty fall and why some companies never give in, Jim Collins said “an institutional decline is like a staged disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the early stages, easier to detect but harder to cure in the later stages. An institution can look strong on the outside but is already sick on the inside, dangerously on the cusp of a precipitous fall.” Success can make you cling to your comfort zone:  a current position, career, process, product or business model for too long. In today’s hypercompetitive environment, the ground is constantly shifting, to maintain success, leaders must understand the patterns in the market places, develop an agile framework and be on a constant lookout for practices and culture that stifle innovation.  If you find yourself in a position of decline, be honest and transparent about your situation, be hopeful as well and develop a tough mental strength. Resilience and perseverance are required in other to bounce back from an unfortunate situation.