The pros and cons of workplace perfectionism

"Biographies of exceptional achievers tend to explain their success through personality traits, highlighting the "killer psychological weapons" that made them great. So, Steve Jobs's abrasiveness is reframed as visionary perfectionism, Elon Musk's impulsivity as bold risk-taking, and Jeff Bezos's relentlessness as uncompromising customer obsession. The same retrospective alchemy applies to women: Oprah Winfrey's emotional intensity becomes radical empathy and authenticity; Indra Nooyi's discipline and conscientiousness are recast as values-driven, long-term strategic leadership;"

"The reality, as always, is a lot more nuanced than our limited patience and attention span appears to tolerate these days, namely all human traits or behavioral patterns can be both good and bad depending on the context, level, or outcome examined. So, for instance, confidence is generally good but when it's decoupled from actual competence or extremely high, it may impede learning, make people look foolish and arrogant, and lead to significant underestimation of risks, delusional grandiosity, and reality distortion."

Biographies of high achievers routinely reinterpret problematic behaviors as key personality-driven advantages once success is achieved. Traits like abrasiveness, impulsivity, and relentlessness are reframed as visionary perfectionism, bold risk-taking, and uncompromising customer obsession, respectively. Similar alchemy recasts women’s intensity, discipline, and toughness as empathy, values-driven strategic leadership, and decisive execution. Human traits can be both beneficial and harmful depending on context, degree, and outcomes. Excessive confidence disconnected from competence impedes learning, fosters arrogance, and increases risk underestimation and grandiosity. Cultural differences influence when traits become liabilities or assets, with collectivistic cultures more self-critical and individualistic cultures more optimistic and arrogant.

Read at Fast Company