Your Ego Will Kill Your Career
In my time in the professional world, I can confidently say that having a big ego is one of the most hindering things someone can have in the workplace, especially when it comes to accounting and finance roles. Everyone has some sense of egotism and having a bit of an ego can be helpful in some situations, but consistently having a big ego is not a good thing. I’ve seen some big egos act up over the years, and today I’m going to tell you exactly how having a constantly big ego can hinder your career progression.
Big Ego Pitfall #1 - External Feedback
Taking feedback from others (supervisors, coworkers, customers) is incredibly important, especially in the early stages of your career. Those with a big ego tend to think of themselves as “in the right” all the time and will consider the feedback of others to be wrong, misinformed, or invalid in some way, which completely undermines any potential positive effects of that feedback. Giving feedback to people with a big ego is like navigating a maze because it is hard to find the correct way to say something in a way that will get through the thick skull of the intended recipient. Because they don’t properly receive or internalize feedback, people with big egos tend to be slower in adapting to their coworkers, making them less effective on the job.
Big Ego Pitfall #2 - Focusing on Seniority / Title / Years of Experience
Having a big ego in the workplace tends to translate to: “I want it my way because my way is right.” In order to protect their big ego, people may appeal to their seniority, job title, or years of experience while interacting with other coworkers. I’ve personally heard many stories of managers using their title to justify not listening to staff, even when the staff was right, and the manager was wrong. Even if they are in the right, appealing solely to any of these things is not the best way to have a productive conversation with others.
Big Ego Pitfall #3 - Lack of Self-reflection
In the absence of feedback from others, having an ego can still prevent professional growth due to a lack of self-reflection. Those with a big ego will blame anyone but themselves for suboptimal results. This is harmful in two ways:
If it was their fault, they won’t acknowledge that fact and therefore will not learn from the experience and are more likely to make the same mistakes again.
Even if it wasn’t their fault, they will blame others and not take the time to improve themselves and are more likely to make mistakes again.
This will negatively affect career progression because someone with a big ego will simply not learn from their own mistakes and work experiences as much as someone who is humbler and more reflective. Over time, not learning from small mistakes and experiences can add up to months or years’ worth of missed career progression and competencies, which can make a huge difference when it comes to promotions and new job opportunities.
It’s especially important to remember that big egos are not active all the time for everyone. Sure, you may know some people that are so self-absorbed that you notice all the above things when you think of them, but there are others who may only have a big ego when reading their evaluations, or when working with certain people. No matter what category you fall into, make sure you can identify if your big ego is taking over in the workplace and put it aside for sake of your own career progression.