Do You Have "Novocaine Hands"?

A number of years ago I saw a movie starring the comedian Sinbad in which he played a con-man who impersonates a dentist. In one particularly memorable scene, he makes the mistake of washing his hands in novocaine rather than soap, then he tries to perform a dental procedure as his hands dangle numb and useless over the patient. Pretty funny scene.

But this scene set me to thinking about one of the most common reasons that we fail as leaders; it is because we are egotistical. You see, we have a common misconception of what it means to be an egotist. We mistakenly believe it is about thinking too much of ourselves; but that is not the case. Being egotistical means thinking too little of others. It means we are insensitive to the needs of those around us. As a leader, that is like trying to perform a dental procedure with "novocaine hands". As clear as you may be in what you want to do, you have no connection with those that must actually implement your ideas - your "hands", so to speak.

If you are unaware of what those you lead really need from you in order to be successful, you are going to get very disappointing results from their efforts. Your, and their, failure is guaranteed.