We’ve all seen leaders brought low by hubris. One problem is that we’re all susceptible to it; another is that it can manifest itself in so many different ways. For one leader, it’s the mistaken belief that being in charge of the library means that she’s the best librarian in the organization, or that by virtue of her position she necessarily understands everyone else’s job. For another, it might manifest as a belief that he’s always right, or that being the director makes him the smartest person in the library.

Leaders who suffer from that kind of hubris tend not to succeed in the long run. They may rise quickly (especially if they really are very smart and are skilled politicians), but eventually they will end up offending too many people, burning too many bridges, and making too many myopic mistakes, and their hubris will catch up with them. Then they find themselves dismissed or pushed out of their positions – at which point, all too often, they will blame everyone but themselves.

Hubris can also manifest itself much more subtly, though, and although the twin examples I’m going to talk about today tend not to be as destructive as others, they can still cause you a lot of trouble if you aren’t self-aware about them.

The twin hubristic mistakes I’m referring to are believing you’re unique and believing you’re typical. Let’s unpack those for a minute, and then consider their implications for library leadership.

The Mistake of Believing You’re Unique

In reality, of course, each of us is technically unique; there is no one else exactly like any of us. However, in each of our attributes – age, intelligence, experience, social background, tastes, aptitudes, etc. – we are all parts of large, similar groups. And even in the distribution of our attributes, we’re still part of pretty large groups: as a white, 5’9”, brown-eyed, 60-year-old library professional from the United States, I’m a member of a pretty good-sized cohort.

This is all pretty obvious. What does it mean for me as a library leader?

For all of us – and especially those of us who have grown up in a culture that constantly encourages us to focus on our uniqueness – it can be very tempting to assume that our technical uniqueness gives us a perspective on the world that no one else shares, an understanding of the world around us that is ours and ours alone, and therefore a kind of expertise that no one else really shares. Again: this may be true in very narrow, specific domains (it’s entirely possible that you’re the only person in your library who can name ten reggae producers from the 1970s, for example), but it’s not usually true in broader, more practical arenas. In many ways, you’re much more like those around you than you might think, and it can be very important to bear that in mind as a leader. When you’re not in a leadership position, an overweening belief in one’s uniqueness can be annoying to others; when you are in a leadership position, it can really get in the way of your effectiveness and that of those you lead. 

Imagine, for example (and I realize that many readers may not have to imagine, but can call upon their lived experience with past leaders) a library director who lectures everyone on what libraries were like in the early 1990s – despite the fact that he’s surrounded by people who were there too. Or, more destructively, one who insists that she’s the only one qualified to perform tasks that could (and should) be delegated to others in the library. This kind of thinking not only makes you difficult to work with – it can also make it difficult for the people you lead to grow and develop or even to accomplish their assigned tasks.

The Mistake of Believing You’re Typical

The mirror-image problem of the one above is the hubristic belief that everyone else is just like you. Do you hate your library’s search interface? Then obviously, everyone must hate it. Do you prefer early-morning to late-afternoon meetings? Obviously, that’s because early-morning meetings are objectively better – surely everyone would agree with that. You hate meetings that incorporate small-group discussion, because… well, okay. Actually everyone does hate those. But you get my point: just as each of us is technically unique but still very much like others in important and meaningful ways, each of us is also very much like others but still unusual in our particular quirks, desires, talents, and tastes. It may be that I hate my library’s search interface because it’s objectively bad; it may also be that the interface works very well for the majority of people but doesn’t appeal to me because I have an unusual way of going about seeking information. 

What does this imply for me as a library leader?

One of the great dangers of being in a leadership position is that people tend to let you have your way. They will act like they agree with you when they really don’t; they will back down from an argument not because they think you’re right, but because they don’t want to offend you by pressing their point; they will organize events and processes around your personal preferences and inclinations. If you’re not very careful, you can begin to conclude that everyone around you thinks the way you do – and the longer you’re in a position of power, the greater the danger of succumbing to this particular kind of hubris. And then, before you know it, you’re acting entitled and arrogant without even realizing it, and undermining your team’s trust in you and their confidence in your perceptivity and insight. 

In my experience, leaders who fail very often do so by losing their people’s trust and confidence, and they don’t see it coming because they don’t realize they were doing anything wrong. Believing you’re unique and believing you’re typical are two mindset errors that can easily lead to that outcome. 

Takeaways and Action Items

• Each of us is technically unique, but in many functional ways we’re also very much like those around us.
• Each of us has much in common with those around us, but none of us is entirely typical – we can’t assume that our orientations, skills, and perspectives are anything close to universal.
• Spend a day paying close attention to your interactions with others, especially in a problem-solving context. Do you tend to approach problems and situations in a way that acknowledges your similarity to others without assuming your views are universally shared? Do you need to work harder to get that balance right?