You’ll have already read about the Kruger-Dunning Effect in my main self-awareness page. This article I read on the Harvard Business Review website seemed to be talking about a similar kind of concept, that ego blinds us to our reality and makes us unaware of our true selves:
Ego is the enemy of good leadership
The hubris syndrome and narcissism also present this idea of delusions of grandeur too, albeit from slightly different angles.
- Kruger-Dunning effect: incompetence not only causes poor performance but also the inability to recognise that one’s performance is poor.
- Hubris: exaggerated pride, overwhelming self-confidence and contempt for others (Source)
- Narcissism: a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empath (Source)
They all have an overinflated self-opinion in common and an inability to be able to reasonably reflect on the self.
Each of those traits or characteristics act as a barrier to effective self-awareness but, as we have seen in the case of Trump, surprisingly, do not always create a barrier to leadership