Several years ago I was asked to assist with the much-anticipated kick-off of the Eller Business School’s program orientation for incoming MBA’s at the University of Arizona. The incoming MBA’s were (as my mother would say) ‘bright-eyed and bushy-tailed’—eagerly looking forward to the coursework, special projects, and overseas study abroad opportunities that their forthcoming educational experience promised.
The beginning of the school year hadn’t even officially started yet, but the MBA’s had already been assigned a group project and numerous case-studies to read in anticipation of the program’s kick-off. The group project was to develop a business plan for a phantom new company that the students would devise. Six project teams competed during the kick-off. I was a judge.
Each teams’ presentation was impressive. I quickly concluded that the students, indeed, were amongst the best and the brightest. As judges we were hard pressed to determine a clear winner of the competition—as each team did such an outstanding job.
During the competitions debrief I asked each team member the following question, “what percentage of the team’s overall success would you attribute to your own personal contribution?” Each team member anonymously marked a number of their choosing on an index card and returned the cards to me. In theory, one might expect that the percentage total from each team would approximate 100% plus or minus (maybe) 15 or 20%.
As part of my hour-long keynote later that afternoon I gave the students the results. The average percentage total from the six teams was 165%. The low was 120%, the high was 230%. More than a couple individuals rated their personal contribution at over 50%. (And they were working within a team of six people!)
What can we conclude from this?
It means that virtually every team member had over-stated their own importance—a few by a little, most by a lot! Surprised? You shouldn’t be! As my colleague friend Marshall Goldsmith has noted, “We have a strong bias to remember events in a light most favorable to us.” I’ve conducted this same exercise with senior execs and blue collar workers alike and the results closely mirror the MBA’s.
When we over-state our own importance, what we’re really saying is, “you’re really lucky to have me”. However subtle that’s conveyed, it’s an unattractive message. Even if the group is performing adequately, it typically shows that people’s focus is on “me”, not “we”.
Confidence is an attractive trait, but excessive self-importance isn’t. You’ll know that the situation is improving when people speak more of “we” experiences, instead of “me” experiences. That’s true for senior execs as well as starry-eyed MBA students.
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