Managing Egos
During last weeks, we've seen a recurring narrative always pointing to the same direction; it suggests the biggest challenge to manage within a company is not so much the technical challenge as it is managing egos.
Narcissists are people who usually suffered a lot of trauma during childhood and needed to create a perfect self image to protect themselves. They amount to between between 6 - 16 % of worlds population, quite common in fact; they have that constant need to be right that's not hard to notice in an office environment; they are excellent at manipulating and therefore often occupy roles higher up the ladder.
But in fact, behind every narcissist there is only insecurity and lack of self-esteem.
Katalin Karikó, who is one of the key scientists who improved mRNA vaccines (she discovered with Prof. Weissman that, slightly modifying RNA with the molecule pseudouridine reduce substantially the body's immune reaction to externally introduced messenger RNA.
She famously said: "If so many people who are in a certain field would come together in a room and forget their names, their egos, their titles, and just think".
Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, recently admitted in an interview during the development from the new Ethereum 2.0, which switches the consensus protocol to PoS (proof of stake) instead of PoW (proof of work) that it's not the technical challenge the biggest one to overcome, but the people-related ones.
Joe Lubin, also an Ethereum cofounder and has worked with Vitalik. He states in an interview: "Vitalik is relatively ego-free; he focuses on facts and circumstances in each situation.
He also does a very good job at sourcing input from many different actors in the space, then he weighs that input as well as he can and makes decisions when he feels like he’s heard as many voices as is necessary.”
..history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition.
(Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday)