"Invincibility is a myth" - Futurist Jim Carroll
A belief in invincibility is often the start of defeat. And in all truth, once you start to think you are invincible - you probably aren’t! You might think that you are on top of the world; that nothing bad can happen; that everything will be perfect; and then, it can all come crashing down in an instant.
Often, with spectacular results.
Here are some facts:
- believing you're invincible invites vulnerability
- that vulnerability happens because you become blind to reality
- the resulting overconfidence, unchecked, will usually lead to failure
- that's because it's when you are feeling invincible that reality will swoop in
- your actual invincibility fades over time, so it's a mindset of caution that can better sustain success
The fact is, a mindset of Invincibility is often the start of defeat!
Organizations and the people within them can easily develop an attitude of invincibility when things are great. Success after success develops a culture of complacency, and inevitably, failure becomes the result when least expected. That's because a mindset of invincibility is a barrier that blocks insight into what is happening.
Often, this culture of invincibility develops at the top and then permeates throughout the organization. An attitude of invincibility at the leadership level is often the biggest challenge that an organization can face, because it’s easy for someone at the top to think that everything is guaranteed. That nothing will topple them. That all the success that has carried them forward so far will continue on, untouched. Their ego gets in the way; their desire for praise becomes a more important goal than any real sort of strategy.
From a personal perspective, feelings of being invincible are dangerous and can wreak havoc on your overall goals and mindset. You start to believe that you have everything under control, which makes you more susceptible to failure. That's because this mindset fosters a false sense of security and leads to complacency.
Invincibility? Watch for it, be wary of it, and always be on your guard - nothing is ever guaranteed.
As soon as you see dangerous levels of invincibility at hand, you know that the laws of unforeseen consequences can start to bear fruit!
Futurist Jim Carroll believes that hubris is the disease behind most leadership failures. He writes about this at https://hubris.jimcarroll.com