Ascending to the top is a major accomplishment in any domain. But it could be argued that it is here that the greatest challenge begins. A number of teams have won the championship, but only a very small fraction are able to back up this success. Something about reaching the summit makes it less likely that those individuals will repeat the feat thereafter. Aside from the added motivation for opponents eager to knock the champions off their perch, the experience of success in itself serves to undermine our efforts and reduces the odds of subsequent success. With this post we take a deep dive into the paradoxical effects of success, identify what factors what should be vigilant for, and explore some potential countermeasures to increase our odds of sustaining success.
THE CAPRICIOUS NATURE OF SUCCESS…
The incredible documentary series ‘The Last Dance’ chronicles the culmination of the reign of the great Chicago Bulls side. What distinguishes the Bulls team during this era is that they won successive titles over a period spanning a decade, including securing NBA championships in consecutive seasons. Many different teams have won a single championships over the years. Very few teams win successive titles, and almost none have managed to create a legacy of continued success in the way that the Chicago Bulls side was able to over this period. Indeed since that time, the Chicago Bulls franchise has itself failed to repeat the feat.
Great success is generally fleeting. Very few prove capable of sustaining dominance over the opposition and holding onto their #1 ranking, and this is evident across all sports and sectors. A glance back through history shows a host of different individuals, teams, groups, and organisations who have reached the pinnacle in their sport or chosen field, but largely irrespective of the domain, the time spent at the top typically proves to be short-lived.
The great paradox is that experiencing success in itself sows the seeds for the downfall that tends to follow in so many cases. Given how often this scenario plays out it seems a worthy goal to identify the factors that germinate those seeds. In doing so we might find some clues on how to avoid these pitfalls in our quest for the holy grail of sustained success.
MO’ SUCCESS, MO’ PROBLEMS…
Attaining top spot naturally makes those who were triumphant into a bigger target. The most highly prized scalp at any given time is whatever individual, team or organisation presently holds the #1 spot. Achieving the status of #1 ranked player or champion team naturally adds to the motivation for all those in the chasing pack who relish the opportunity to knock the champions off their perch.
“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”
Aside from adding to the desire for the rest to dethrone the reigning champion (and perhaps claim the crown for themselves), achieving success clearly brings a whole new set of expectations from various sources, plus a host of accompanying distractions. Many performers struggle with this, which is part of what contributes to the hangover that follows success.
PRIDE COMES BEFORE THE FALL…
The effects of being labelled ‘the best’ are insidious in other ways that trip up unsuspecting performers individually and collectively. Branding ourselves in this way naturally alters how we think about ourselves and how we approach our task moving forwards. The effect of newfound status on our mentality applies at an individuals and team level. Beyond the performers themselves this is also manifested among the coaching and support staff, and at various levels of organisation. In the case of sport, these effects extend to the respective national sport organisations and institute of sport personnel.
So what are the specific factors or traits that commonly undermine our attempts to repeat our prior success and remain successful? Achieving breakthrough success and reaching the summit naturally tends to diminish the desire and determination that we bring to the endeavour afterwards. Having enjoyed success we may not necessarily have the same hunger or drive to succeed.
A creeping sense of complacency is thus typically part of the equation. Attaining #1 spot often removes some of the onus on continuing to improve, innovate, and evolve. The opposition are not standing still, so any clear water we might have had is quickly caught up.
But arguably the most toxic element and often what does the real damage is a sense of hubris.
“In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of his or her mortality”
POLAR OPPOSITES…
Regular readers will have noticed a recurring theme is the necessity of humility. To be clear, I do not advocate humility simply in the interests of being a good human, albeit that is a fairly major ancillary benefit. Humility is integral to our ability to learn and adapt, exercise sound judgement, and continue to perform at the highest level. Hubris is the polar opposite to humility. Illustrating the ill-effects that accompany the path to hubris thus provides the clearest demonstration of how crucial humility is for both leaders and performers.
Most of us start out pretty humble. The fork in the road tends to come at the point where we taste success. The public acclaim naturally accompanies major success is generally not conducive to remaining humble. Success essentially opens the door that allows hubris to creep in.
I feel well qualified to speak on the phenomenon of hubris bringing about the fall, as a result of my upbringing watching sport in the UK. It could be said that hubris is itself a national sport where I come from. Pick any of the national sports in the UK (English football, the England rugby team, England cricket) - they all have a rich history of this boom and bust, riches to rags cycle. In each case, once the national team achieves major success at world level (a world cup win, triumph in global competition, or achieving #1 world ranking) this proves to be the harbinger of the seemingly inevitable decline that is witnessed promptly thereafter.
Returning to the complacency that often follows success, what this is often borne out of is an excess of confidence and exaggerated certainty of a positive outcome (i.e. hubris). Status effectively leads to a false sense of superiority and this doesn’t just affect the England national team. Past success creates the illusion that we are automatically better, as if by default. We expect to win and so we have the impression that we just have to turn up, which naturally fosters a profound level of complacency.
THE DISTORTIONS CREATED BY HUBRIS…
As we have described, the hallmarks of hubris are over-confidence and an exaggerated sense of certainty of success in our future endeavours. The newfound sense of self-confidence that stems from having achieved success is undoubtedly a positive development for most performers, at least initially. It is when this spills over and becomes untethered from objective reality that problems arise. An excess of confidence or certainty often breeds conceitedness and arrogance. Equally problematic is that hubris distorts our perception and judgement, so that we fall prey to various unconscious biases and cognitive distortions.
On example that is common among those who have achieved success is attribution bias. In general, we tend to give more attention to the obstacles and headwinds we had to overcome, whereas we fail to acknowledge the times we benefit from tail winds and good fortune. This comes to the fore in the afterglow of a major success.
For instance, following a championship win the players, coaches and miscellaneous support staff naturally attribute the success achieved to their own efforts and actions. Individuals who are lauded, such as the coach or star player, can also start to believe their own hype and claim an out-sized share of the credit, whilst failing to recognise the contributions of others. A myth is quickly created and propagated by others, creating a circular effect whereby the sense of hubris grows and takes hold especially among those individuals to whom the success was attributed.
A related delusion is the cognitive bias described as the illusion of control. Looking back on any successful campaign it is easy to create a narrative that the outcome was never in doubt. However, on closer examination there are always critical moments that could easily have gone the other way. Once again, there is tendency to believe our own actions were responsible for determining the outcome of these turning points. We overlook the element of chance and the role that luck plays in deciding the outcome. If we are objective, there is always an element of good fortune.
A good outcome does not necessarily mean that the correct decisions were made or best course of action was taken - we perhaps just got away with it in that particular instance. There is a common failure to allow for the possibility that success was in part achieved in spite of what was done. The leadership and support staff of high performing teams and organisations are prone to such delusions. As in the cautionary tales from Ancient Greece, the association with success can lead to the notion that they possess mythical powers of insight and the belief that they can do no wrong.
A successful outcome can thus blind us to existing faults, so that for a short time success serves to paper over the cracks. In the crucible of performance sport, the weak points do not however remain hidden for very long. The spiral of behaviour borne out of hubris often accelerates the process, so that cracks at surface-level develop into deep fractures and lead to things falling apart entirely.
THE RECKONING…
One of the great things about competitive sport is that it keeps you grounded. The mettle of athletes and teams is tested on a regular basis. There is no hiding place in sport, especially individual sports. Opponents are quick and eager to provide a dose of reality, and so the ego of the performer promptly gets checked. The best case studies of this phenomenon are contact and combat sports.
In sports where teams and individuals compete often the correction comes correspondingly quicker. It is tough to continue to tell yourself how great you are when the opposition are humbling you on a weekly basis. Olympic sports are perhaps more prone to extended periods of delusion, given that the frequency of reality checks is far less with the pinnacle events only occurring every two or four years.
Performers themselves experience the reality check first-hand - the visceral experience of being set on your backside is highly effective at dispelling any delusions of grandeur. Coaches and support staff are able to observe from a distance, but do not benefit from directly experiencing these realities in the same way. The greater the degree of separation, the more shielded we are from reality and so delusions may linger, particularly for those who are not directly held accountable for results. Teams and organisations are also more prone to prolonged spells, given that others within the group tend to reinforce collective delusion and groupthink.
In other spheres this self-correcting function is sadly not so evident, or at least it is not as immediate. The longer the delusion is allowed to continue, the greater and more violent the reckoning tends to be when it finally comes.
Managerial hubris is a topic that is receiving increasing study in business and commerce. In particular, hubris is often exhibited by the CEO and senior leadership team in case studies where prior success sets the scene for escalating overreach that ends in catastrophic failure. Examples cited in the management literature include infamous cases of corporate malfeasance such as Enron.
Academia is another sphere that is prone to hubris and the lack of accountability in such fields compound the issue. Individuals, groups and organisations can coast on status or reputations and association with past success seemingly indefinitely. In the cases where they are eventually exposed the fall from grace tends to swift and quite final.
WEAPONS TO COMBAT HUBRIS…
It is crucial that leaders, coaches, and practitioners are aware of the perils of hubris and the excesses that follow success in order to exercise vigilance. Beyond awareness it is important we take active steps to combat these tendencies in ourselves and guard against these behaviours among the performers we serve.
The great coaches are notable for their conscious efforts to bring attention to the perils of success. The outstanding few coaches and performers who managed extended reigns at the top provide the example for how to implement effective countermeasures.
“You’re only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act ”
The wisdom shared by Phil Jackson highlights the truth that by its nature success is momentary. You are only a champion or member of a champion team for the moments after you’ve won the championship. Once the preparatory period for the next season or competition cycle begins everybody is back to square one. The fact that Phil Jackson intuitively understood this is of course highly notable, but what is more meaningful is that he imparted this awareness in the players he worked with (notably Michael Jordan).
What this perspective reveals is the folly of feeling a sense of entitlement based on historical success. The notion that ranking or status somehow changes the equation, so that we no longer have to do the work to earn victory, is patently ridiculous but teams and individuals nevertheless succumb to this illogic. The status of being a success is only temporary and we should not get attached to this label (and given the associated ill-effects, perhaps discard it as soon after the victory as practicable).
The old adage ‘you’re only as good as your last game’ speaks to this. This principle also applies within a contest. From my playing days I vividly recall playing against the side who taught me this lesson. On past form they were the superior side, but we were also a good team and the opening stages were a tight contest. When they broke through and scored against us the message I heard the leaders on the field giving to their team-mates as they assembled prior to the restart was ‘back to 0-0’ and ‘start again’. Rather than lapsing into complacency, taking the upper hand was their cue to redouble their efforts. It was the team’s response that followed the breakthrough which transformed it from being an early score to the decisive moment in the contest.
Given the stakes involved, as leaders and coaches it follows that fostering humility among ourselves, the staff, and the group of performers should be a cornerstone of our approach. The performance environment we create should reinforce this. Effectively this means creating and maintaining individual and collective accountability, to ensure these standards rigorously enforced - especially during times of success. Following the aforementioned team’s example, rather than relaxing our standards when successes are achieved this should prompt a heightened level of vigilance and redoubling of our efforts in this area.
“The key to staying on top of things is treat everything like it’s your first project...
Like it’s your first day, like, back when you was an intern.
That’s how you try to treat things. Like, just stay hungry...”
Performers themselves must of course be aware and remain vigilant to the insidious effects of success. On an individual level performers can and should take appropriate steps to exercise self-restraint and hold each other accountable. Positive peer influence and counsel from others is important to make every effort not to get taken in by the hype and become unduly affected by the praise that is lavished upon the victor. In high profile sports performers would perhaps benefit from avoiding reading the publicity that they inevitably generate, but they certainty shouldn’t believe their own press.
IN CLOSING…
Part of resolving the paradox of success is to switch our perspective from viewing being ‘the best’ as a prize that we hold onto. As soon as we conceive it as a destination that we arrive at, this is essentially the beginning of the end. You might become ‘the best’ for a moment, but without continued focus and effort you don’t remain that way for very long.
Being the best is a chase that has no end; it follows the key is the pursuit. Whilst attaining the summit is enjoyable this is merely where the cycle repeats. Labels and titles are fleeting. Rather than being fixated on being crowned ‘the best’ we might simply commit to the relentless pursuit of better.
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