Warning: Hubris Brings Down the Best of the Best

Roger Federer, perhaps the greatest tennis player of all time, lost last night to Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. Now, I'm a big tennis fan, and a bigger tennis hack, and John McEnroe was not calling me up from the CBS broadcast booth asking about my opinion. That said, in my very humble opinion, hubris brought Federer down. How many times did he need to see del Potro's forehand come booming back to him for an outright winner before thinking that perhaps he should start hitting it to his opponent's backhand instead. It struck me that the great Federer, and I'm a huge fan, could not imagine that someone could hit any stroke harder and with more accuracy than he could. Del Potro deserved to win, but hubris brought Federer down. Hubris brings down the best Advisors, the best Managers and the best firms too. With Advisors, sometimes I see some of the best forget the customer service that helped get them to the peak. They no longer call back their client's quickly enough, or they think, after a few winners, that they are smarter than the markets. Hubris retards their growth, because referrals go from a flood to a trickle. They become average without ever realizing why. The best Branch Managers forget the service orientation that made them stars and focus exclusively on the next big ticket recruit. They make sure that they are managing “up” to their bosses instead of “down” to the people relying on them. Their offices become revolving doors with the best leaving and the good ones coming in wondering what happened to the responsive guy they bought into during the recruiting process. Worst of all, hubris brings entire companies down. Advisors become numbers instead of names. Firms advertise how their “platform” is superior to their competitors while forgetting that their platform is only as good as the Advisors who are using it to provide solutions to their clients. Advisors want to feel connected to senior management who understand their problems, who have lived what they lived day to day, who provide solutions and not obstacles. Hubris makes us all forget a basic truth: we all are entitled to nothing and that we must earn what we make each and every day.