YOUR EGO MIGHT BE KILLING YOUR BUSINESS: Entrepreneurs don't have to take a page from Steve Jobs, these tech titans prove empathy is worth its weight in gold.

AuthorLopez, Beth

Machiavelli was a known cutthroat. Columbus would stop at nothing. Napoleon thought big, whatever the cost. Nobody really wanted to sit with Genghis Khan at lunch.

Like many of history's big names, today's business leaders often have either boundless confidence (if we're putting it politely) or a nuclear-grade ego (if we're putting it more straightforwardly) to forge ahead, full steam, with nary a thought for others. Sometimes that has proved a good thing, as in the case of Steve Jobs, Larry Page, or Travis Kalanick--none of whom are known for their compassionate leadership style.

But do you need to be at the conquistador end of the egoic spectrum to forge into new frontiers, push the envelope of technology, build solutions never before built, or chase ideas previously unheard of? Or, can nice guys really finish first?

According to a few of Utah's well-respected business leaders, the answer is a little in-between. There's much discussion about the human ego on the self-development shelves at the bookstore and almost inevitably, ego is positioned as a bad thing. In our personal lives, that's likely right. In our business ventures, the ideal balance is trickier.

On one extreme, the egomaniacal entrepreneur may very well smash competitors all the way to Fortune 100 fame. But, according to Tom Stockham, founder and CEO at ExpertVoice, Robb Kunz, founding partner of BoomStartup, and Johnny Hanna, founder and CEO at Homie, there's a better way to succeed--without burning through employees or relationships.

They're not alone in arguing that there's a powerful empathetic middle of the egoic vs. humble Venn diagram. As Harvard Business Review reported, the top ten companies in 2015's Global Empathy Index increased in value more than twice as much as the bottom ten and generated 50 percent more earnings. How do they do it? According to these leaders, it takes a masterful blend of humility and grit.

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"I see it as a scale," says Mr. Hanna of Homie. "At the bottom end, there's the belief that one is worth less than others. On the opposite end, there's the more egomaniacal 'I'm better than anyone else in the room--the rules don't apply to me, and I'm above accountability.'"

Each extreme, Mr. Hanna says, actually stems from a place of insecurity. But found dead-center in the middle, there's a perfect dance between humility and confidence.

"Of course," he continues, "very few of us hold tight at that healthy center...

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