The Arrogance Paradox

Why does arrogance derail promising careers more than almost any other leadership trait?

In this episode of Leadership Traits Decoded, Cynthia Kyriazis and Drea Martin dissect one of leadership’s most challenging derailers: arrogance. 

Unlike many traits, those who struggle with arrogance often fail to recognize it in themselves - making it one of the hardest patterns to change.

The discussion explores two common scenarios: 

• the accomplished leader whose confidence edges into arrogance, and 
• the less experienced professional whose inflated self-perception creates barriers to growth and collaboration. 

They reveal why investor-backed leaders often operate with a higher tolerance for arrogance, but also why crossing the invisible line can spell disaster.

You’ll Learn:

•  Why arrogance has the smallest “risk zone” for investor-backed leaders
•  The difference between justified confidence in seasoned leaders vs. damaging arrogance in less experienced professionals
•  Practical ways to manage arrogance in yourself — from seeking feedback to sharing credit generously
•  How to help others address arrogance by finding the “most open door” for trusted feedback
•  Why fear often lies beneath arrogance, and how empathy combined with accountability creates change.

Whether you’re reflecting on your own blind spots or navigating the challenge of an arrogant teammate, this episode offers actionable insights that balance psychological understanding with practical leadership strategies.

Ready to explore your leadership traits? Connect with us on LinkedIn or visit www.plllab.com to see how we transform leadership intelligence into return-driven action.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Leadership Traits Decoded
• 0:53 Unpacking Arrogance as a Derailer
• 2:10 Strategies for Managing Personal Arrogance
• 4:58 Helping Others Overcome Arrogant Tendencies
• 8:22 Key Takeaways and Episode Closing

Transcript

Cynthia Kyriazis: 0:03

Welcome to Leadership Traits Decoded. I'm Cynthia Kyriazis, Chief Experience Officer at the Culture Think Tank.

Drea Martin: 0:10

And I'm Drea Martin, Chief Operating Officer of the Crucible. We are collaborative partners at Performance Leadership Learning Lab, where we transform leadership intelligence into return-driven action.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 0:22

Today we're unpacking the leadership traits essential for building, investing in and scaling successful companies. Our insights come directly from data-driven metrics within our platform's solution, so let's dive in, okay? Hey Drea, how are you?

Drea Martin: 0:40

Yeah, I'm doing well. How are you, Cynthia? I'm good.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 0:44

I'm kind of sort of excited about this topic today, which some people will wonder why. It's just because I am, because I've never really had a discussion about this. We've decided to talk about the trait of arrogance.

Drea Martin: 0:58

Yes, and, to give context, this is one of six of our traits that are the potential derailers in this space. So more of this one is bad and it actually is on our kind of our reports. It's only flagged at certain levels. Some of this is healthy, as with any trait, but kind of the more you have and once it gets to a certain risk area is when we actually highlight this for individuals. This is something that's funny because it's one that maybe actually we're talking about arrogance. So this is one probably your co-workers will see, but most of these traits, these kind of derailer traits, are ones that your co-workers might not see on a day-to-day basis.

Drea Martin: 1:39

But once you're put into a higher stress situation, uncertain things happen, things change rapidly. These come to light. So that's the fun part about arrogance. One more kind of fun fact, as we kick this off, is that arrogance has the smallest risk zone for investor-backed individuals, because, yeah, well, there's a lot of really qualified and highly capable people in this space. So the amount of arrogance that's considered healthy is actually higher than the general population, which I always think is quite amusing. Yes, but there is still too much sometimes, don't worry.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 2:18

Okay, what do you do when there's too much? That is a great question.

Drea Martin: 2:23

I guess a good kind of follow-up on that would be are you talking about the individual who is arrogant? Are you talking about working with someone who's arrogant? Because I'd say those are slightly different situations too.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 2:34

And because they're slightly different, we should talk about both of them.

Drea Martin: 2:36

Yeah, wonderful.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 2:38

But let's talk first about somebody who exhibits a high degree of arrogance.

Drea Martin: 2:43

That is tough because when someone is arrogant, it means they might have an inflated sense of their own importance or their abilities or their knowledge, which means being open to and practicing seeking more feedback something we've been talking about quite a bit on here is a really important factor because it means being open to taking feedback and practicing more active listening and making sure that you're sharing credit generously and admitting you don't know. Things are all really important little ways that you can practice and fight back against some of that internal arrogance.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 3:21

Okay, putting you on the spot if I ask you to give me an example.

Drea Martin: 3:30

Ooh, okay, yeah, no, that's helpful. I think it's tough because what I've seen in particular is that typically the individuals who flag arrogance. There's two situations that I've seen and there's one that I'm always a little bit more concerned with. The first is we have a stellar CEO who is phenomenal at what they do, and they're a little bit arrogant, and I honestly sympathize with that situation because they actually probably have every right to be arrogant. That's one area where it's like, of course, some development is still helpful because it means they'll build better relationships with others, so they'll want to actually go out of their way and stay more connected and make sure that they're still showing that vulnerability and that fragility around, like not pretending that they know things that they don't know, but also embracing if they typically do know. And then there's another situation that I think I have a lot of a harder time with and this is like a developmental this person needs support is when someone is not in this super senior or super advanced position and doesn't have those same capabilities but flags arrogance.

Drea Martin: 4:31

So I've seen some more entry-level people flag arrogance and that is always difficult to see because, even though they have their strengths and they're probably keenly aware of their strengths. It means that there's probably some things that they haven't run into yet in their career, in their just interacting with other people, that they're blindsided by this arrogance that's holding them back, maybe from seeing their weaknesses, from working on their weaknesses, by this arrogance that's holding them back, maybe from seeing their weaknesses, from working on their weaknesses. And that's a tougher case because it means they're going to need to change that, because they're not at that place yet where people respect them enough and put them on this pedestal where they can be a little bit arrogant. At that level they're hard to work with, they're probably a little bit disagreeable and maybe they're not even coachable as much as they might need to be to succeed. So if you see that in your report, if you are kind of coming into this step, pay attention to it, take it as feedback and don't let it be the end of your development story.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 5:24

Let it be the start and if a supervisor or the CEO sees that somewhere in his leadership group, depending, of course, on the age and experience, as you mentioned how and what would they do for the development of somebody who's negatively trending on this for no other reason, simply because they're younger in the level of experience?

Drea Martin: 5:46

Right, definitely, I think a big part of it is leading by example. So it's making sure that they're prioritizing being open, taking feedback seriously, treating colleagues and partners and everyone that's kind of in the environment a certain way. And then there's also an aspect of really doing their best to flag and using sources that maybe this individual finds credible to give that feedback to that person. So if there's someone who's a little bit arrogant who admires someone else, have that person be the one who gives them this feedback. A little bit arrogant who admires someone else have that person be the one who gives them this feedback. Or if there's some data points that, like they find outside assessments really credible, use a resource like that. If they find that maybe there's someone else in their lives that can give them that feedback that they'd be more receptive to it, I'd try to find the most open door to getting across to this person as a. We're trying to help you.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 6:36

That's really a good phrase the most open door, Because sometimes it really does take two or three people making mention of something like this and it's easy to dismiss, especially when you're younger. Well, you know, they don't know me, they don't know the situation, and so on and so forth. So it's easy to dismiss. But if there is a combination of either I've heard this or I I've seen this and I want to help you because this could be a deal breaker as you try to climb the ladder, as you try to work with your fellow managers in this leadership team, that probably isn't going to go well. So let's look at different methodologies of doing this. Let's get assessed, let's get it coached, let's get some coaching development around that to help you understand where this might be okay and where it's really definitely not okay.

Drea Martin: 7:19

Yeah, and it's definitely sometimes an extra step which is tough, but especially if there's someone you care about or there's someone it's a team that's really focused on development, taking that extra step to realize who would they receive this from best is the way to make sure the message actually gets across In that work, which is the wonderful part. It's this the right person communicating that message, even if everyone around them has been saying it. If you find the person who will actually get through or is trusted enough you have that level of this person wouldn't lie to me or wouldn't try to take me down or whatever the notion might be that can come across then and then they can actually do something about it. Then the awareness gets heightened, they can do something.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 8:02

Yeah, Anytime you've got fear introduced into a situation like this, a communication situation or a growth situation, if there's anything other than I am actually honestly trustworthy, I'm here to help you. If fear props up, fear stops everything. Fear stops and sidetracks and derails everything. Practice some empathy and if you haven't heard our podcast on that, please go back and listen to it and practice. It just takes practice. That's all Awareness and practice. Do you have any takeaway for this one?

Drea Martin: 8:29

Ooh, good question. I think I did the takeaway first last time. Okay, yeah, I knew that was coming. I knew that was coming.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 8:35

Okay, my takeaway is working with those who don't see it at all. It's just the very last example that you gave. If I'm someone who really wants to grow in my area, I need to take what is said to me and ask or seek someone whom I trust in order to have it impact me. But I'm wanting to make this change. It's not a shut door, it's an open door.

Drea Martin: 9:00

That's how I feel. Yeah, even just a sliver.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 9:03

Even just a sliver. Even if it's just a sliver.

Drea Martin: 9:06

Enough to get the like a toe in or something and press a little bit more. I like that. I think it's important to realize that when someone is caught in, whatever the trait is, if they're just not aware or they're too arrogant or they're stuck, there's always a way to reach someone and it's just finding the right way. And that's just rephrasing what you just said. But I just I think that's the strongest takeaway from this.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 9:29

You said it so nicely, treha. All right, thanks for listening. We hope you learned a lot about arrogance one way or another. Yeah, we'd love your feedback on it. Take care, we'll talk to you again next time. Thanks for listening to this episode of Leadership Traits Decoded. You'll be able to find all our episodes on the Performance Leadership Learning Lab website at wwwplllabcom, or you can listen on your favorite streaming platform.

Drea Martin: 10:01

We'll be back soon to explore the next essential trait. Until then, feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn if you have any questions or ideas.