The Paradox of Success
Marshall Goldsmith (with Mark Reiter) addresses this very concern in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (2008). In what he calls the “paradox of success”, Goldsmith explains that the same beliefs and behaviours that made people successful can create problems when they lead.
Ironically, problem behaviours can include:
- “winning too much”, which makes them trample over others
- “adding too much value”, which prevents others getting any credit
- “passing judgement”, which means offering opinions rather than listening
- “being straight talking” which means making destructive comments and being too critical, and
- “telling the world how smart they are”, rather than offering praise to others.
These are all traits that those with ...
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