~by Haley Lynn Gray~
Have you ever worked with someone who couldn’t be corrected? Who was certain that whatever they were doing was right, regardless of evidence, and took offence at things that contained no offence?
Most of us have. They are not enjoyable to work with, and they’re usually the last to know it.
So here’s a career tip: leave your ego in the car.
What ego actually costs
You stop getting information. People learn not to tell you things. The feedback dries up first, then the bad news, and eventually you’re the last person to hear about problems in your own business.
You defend decisions past their expiry date. Once a position becomes about being right rather than being correct, changing it feels like losing — so people carry on with plans they privately know are failing.
You can’t be taught anything. Which caps you at whatever you knew when the ego arrived.
And it costs you your best people. Capable employees leave managers who can’t hear them, and they rarely explain why.
The distinction worth keeping
Leaving your ego in the car isn’t the same as having no confidence. You can be entirely sure of your competence and still be curious about being wrong.
The difference is what you do with a correction. Someone with confidence hears “this is inaccurate” as information about the work. Someone with ego hears it as an attack on them.
This gets harder as you become more senior, because fewer people are willing to correct you and the feedback that does arrive is softened past the point of usefulness.
Practical habits
Say “you’re right” out loud. Promptly, without qualifying it. It costs nothing and buys an enormous amount.
Ask for the criticism directly. “What would you do differently?” — then be silent while they answer, and don’t explain yourself.
Separate the work from you. Someone disliking your draft is not someone disliking you.
Change your mind in public. “I’ve thought about it and I was wrong” is one of the most powerful things a leader can say, and it makes everyone else safer to do the same.
And notice the flare. The hot feeling when you’re corrected is the signal — that’s the moment to say nothing for five seconds. The gap between feeling and responding is where this is won.
The short version
Nobody has ever been promoted for being impossible to correct.
Leave the ego in the car. Collect it on the way home if you must — though you’ll probably find you didn’t miss it.
