HBR On Leadership
HBR On Leadership
Harvard Business Review
Why Expertise Can Make You a Less Effective Leader
23 minutes Posted Jan 1, 2025 at 11:02 am.
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Show notes
Being the most knowledgeable and experienced person on your team can seem advantageous. However, Sydney Finkelstein, an expert in leadership and talent development, warns that expertise can lead you astray in two significant ways: it may stifle your curiosity about new developments and foster overconfidence in your problem-solving abilities. In this episode, Finkelstein explores these pitfalls and proposes a crucial supplement to expertise: the importance of becoming more humble and open-minded. He also offers research-backed advice on how to cultivate these qualities as a leader. Finkelstein is a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and the author of the book Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent.