One of the biggest egos in the cartoon world belongs to the character Plankton from the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. Plankton’s over-inflated sense of worth (and his never-ending quest to steal the coveted Krabby Patty recipe) leads him to run roughshod over the inhabitants of Bikini Bottom.
To wit:
It’s funny in cartoon-land. But the humor fades when it’s you who’s faced with a colleague or leader with an outsized ego. Although there’s little you can do to put the pin in someone else’s ego to deflate it, you can keep your own ego in check. After all, at one time or another, we’ve all gotten a little cocky or overconfident . . . only to get our comeuppance—as invariably happens with Plankton.
I tackled the topic of keeping yourself humble for the January column in the Smartbrief Original article, 4 ways to let the air out of your leadership ego . Go on over and check it out; I’d love to know what you think.
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