Overconfidence-Bias in Leadership

Overconfidence-bias is common among leaders. Leaders overestimate their abilities in some areas because they don’t want to seem as if they are unaware of their capabilities. The opposite applies as well; leaders underestimate their abilities in areas because they are unsure, they can complete the task. Research suggests overconfidence is described in three categories: overestimation, over-placement, and over-precision (Moore & Schatz, 2017). Overestimation is present in leaders who believe they are better and smarter than they are. They believe they perform flawlessly in tasks regardless of how difficult the task. The leader who states he has raised $10 billion in funds for past companies when report states he has raised $2 billion is an example of overestimation. Over-placement is similar to overestimation because the leader believes if they are better than others. Leaders who apply for positions because they believe they can perform better than the person holding the position is an example of over-placement. Over-precision is common among leaders because this belief places the leader in competition with other leaders or companies and removes focus from organizational priorities which leads to errors in leadership. A leader whose primary focus is numbers and not employees is an example of over-precision. Thoughts…

Moore, D. A., & Schatz, D. (2017). The three faces of overconfidence. Social & Personality Psychology Compass, 11(8), n/a N.PAG.

 https://doiorg.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1111/spc3.12331