Why Ego is a Leader’s Greatest Enemy

I'm going to share an unpopular opinion about Lindsey Vaughn. Just a bit of a gut feeling that I had and have currently, with all the fanfare that she came into this Olympics with, with all the bravado, with all the ego and even the US Media kind of supporting her. And then last night I Woke up at 4:30 in the morning to watch her downhill run. Even when the announcers were saying the whole world is watching, the reality was the whole world wasn't watching. The whole world is watching their countries race. It's kind of like Ryan Holiday's book, the Ego Is the Enemy. She approached this comeback with too much ego and too much bravado and too much fanfare and maybe not enough humility that this sport is really tough. Now, clearly she's the best in the world and I've never competed at that level, but something in my gut was telling me the whole time that something was going to happen. And it's reminiscent of back in 1980 when Ken Reid from the Olympics in Canada was approaching the men's downhill with the same kind of ego. He was the number one in the world. He was World cup point champion. He was going to take it over. He was expected to win. He came in with that real brash Canadian ego, and his ski popped off in the first 20 minutes of his race. So something there, maybe a little bit of humility, a little bit of learning that the ego is the enemy on this one. Sad that she crashed, sad that she went down. I feel bad for her in all the training, but maybe there's a lesson there for all of us. The ego is the enemy.