CEOs’ Blind Spots 1 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1159

CEOs’ Blind Spots 1 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1159

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1159 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma    Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

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Preamble

These posts are inspired by McKinsey research. Link at the end.

The Overconfidence Trap: Lessons for New CEOs in Leading Culture and Self

Stepping into the role of Chief Executive Officer is one of the most coveted, demanding, and scrutinized transitions in leadership. For many new CEOs, it is the culmination of years, sometimes decades, of ambition, performance, and preparation. Yet, despite this preparation, countless studies, leadership surveys, and real-world examples reveal that many incoming CEOs fall into a common trap: overconfidence.

This overconfidence manifests in two distinct but deeply interconnected ways:

1. Believing they can shift organizational culture more easily than reality allows.

2. Overestimating their ability to manage personal effectiveness in the face of new demands.

Both traps can derail even the most talented leaders if not carefully understood and navigated.

The Illusion of Cultural Control

“New CEOs tend to be most overconfident about their ability to shift the culture. They typically come into the role with a clear point of view on where the organization needs to go, yet they underestimate the difficulty of aligning and mobilizing the employees to get there.”

Organizational culture is often described as “the way we do things around here.” It is shaped by shared values, long-standing habits, informal networks, and deeply embedded narratives. Unlike strategy, which can be redefined on a PowerPoint slide, culture resists quick shifts. It has inertia.

Yet, many new CEOs believe that their vision, charisma, or mandate gives them the power to change culture overnight. They assume employees will naturally rally behind new goals once these are articulated. The truth is far more complex: culture changes slowly, through trust, consistent actions, and visible wins, not through declarations.

Why CEOs Struggle with Culture Shifts

Entrenched Beliefs and Practices – Employees don’t resist change out of stubbornness alone; they resist because the existing culture feels safe and proven.

Misjudging Influence – A CEO’s formal authority is immense, but cultural authority is distributed across the organization in informal leaders, middle managers, and legacy practices.

Overloading Transformation – New CEOs often try to change everything at once, creating confusion and fatigue rather than progress.

What Works Instead

Listen First, Act Later: Spend the early months observing how things really get done. Map not just the processes but the unwritten rules.

Pick Cultural Levers: Focus on a few visible behaviors that matter most to strategy execution. For example, if innovation is a goal, encourage risk-taking by rewarding small experiments.

Align Symbolism and Substance: Employees notice when leaders’ actions don’t match their words. Every policy, recognition, and meeting becomes a cultural signal.

Build Coalitions: Culture cannot be imposed; it must be co-created with managers and teams who carry influence.

The Challenge of Personal Effectiveness

“New CEOs also feel overconfident in terms of how well they’re managing their personal effectiveness. It often takes more time than they anticipate to balance being who they want to be with who the organization needs them to be in the role.”

Leadership is not just about managing others; it is also about managing oneself. New CEOs often underestimate how all-consuming the role becomes. Unlike prior positions, where results were bounded within a function or business unit, the CEO role encompasses everything: strategy, operations, people, culture, reputation, and relationships with boards, regulators, and investors.

Why Overconfidence Emerges

Past Success Bias: Having excelled in previous roles, CEOs assume the same habits will carry over. But the CEO role is qualitatively different, not just a bigger version of past jobs.

Underestimating the Spotlight: Every gesture, decision, and delay is magnified, interpreted, and sometimes misinterpreted by employees, media, and stakeholders.

Neglecting Self-Care: In the rush to prove themselves, new CEOs often push aside sleep, reflection, or renewal, weakening their judgment and resilience.

What Personal Effectiveness Really Requires

Time Mastery: CEOs face endless demands. Saying “no” becomes as critical as saying “yes.” The ability to prioritize based on impact rather than urgency separates effective leaders from overwhelmed ones.

Adaptive Identity: Balancing personal authenticity with organizational expectations is a delicate act. A CEO must be true to their values while adjusting tone and style to meet the company’s needs.

Building a Personal Board of Advisors: Trusted confidants outside the formal structure can provide perspective, reality checks, and emotional support.

Resilience Rituals: Whether through exercise, meditation, reading, or quiet time, CEOs must deliberately protect their energy.

The Dual Trap: Culture and Self

What makes the overconfidence trap particularly dangerous is that the cultural challenge and the personal challenge are intertwined.

If a CEO overestimates their ability to shift culture, they may set unrealistic timelines and push initiatives that fail, damaging credibility.

If they overestimate their personal capacity, they risk burnout, inconsistency, or missteps that further erode trust.

In other words, misjudging one makes the other worse. A burned-out CEO cannot inspire change. A culture resistant to change will test the CEO’s resilience.

Practical Steps to Avoid the Overconfidence Trap

Embrace Humility from Day One

Instead of assuming authority grants influence, CEOs should treat their early months as a listening tour. Employees often respond more positively to leaders who admit they don’t have all the answers but are committed to finding them together.

Pace the Change

Trying to overhaul everything creates chaos. Identify quick wins that build momentum and credibility, then gradually layer in more ambitious shifts.

Build Trust Before Strategy

Culture responds more to trust than to vision. Invest time in building authentic relationships with key managers, frontline staff, and external stakeholders.

Balance “Being” and “Doing”

Leadership effectiveness is not just about the number of hours worked but about the clarity and energy brought to each interaction. Protecting personal effectiveness enables sustained organizational effectiveness.

Seek Continuous Feedback

Boards, mentors, and employees can provide early warnings when overconfidence is leading to blind spots. A feedback-rich environment allows for course correction before mistakes compound.

Sum Up

Becoming a CEO is a moment of both triumph and vulnerability. The temptation to believe in one’s power to transform culture quickly or to maintain peak personal effectiveness effortlessly is strong, but dangerous. The most successful CEOs are not those who impose sweeping cultural change overnight or who appear invincible under pressure. They are those who recognize the limits of their control, the complexity of culture, and the need for self-awareness and balance.

Ultimately, leadership is less about heroic declarations and more about steady, deliberate progress: aligning people slowly, authentically, and sustainably, while managing oneself with discipline and humility.

Overconfidence may open the door to the CEO’s office, but only realism, resilience, and respect for the journey will keep it open.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and recognized duly.

Link:

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/seeing-ceo-blind-spots?stcr=798248FAF7894947B6105FBD8EB75F4D&cid=mgp_cfas-eml-alt-mkq-mgp-glb--&hlkid=3bcc27ef57ea40bfa9f1349a052031d4&hctky=15999472&hdpid=09da9c7e-dbdf-4d66-9190-0d3019d55a6b