The unenlightened believe
they are the best.
The best know
they are not.
On Excellence and Human Development
The concept of excellence is highly relative and therefore inherently questionable. From different perspectives and needs, the same things and qualities can simultaneously be very good and even disastrous. It is also unclear whether the best even participate in the comparison, whether the evaluator is qualified for the task, and how they conduct their measurement.
Psychologists Dunning and Kruger associate the feeling of subjective superiority with a cognitive bias known as the superiority bias, also referred to as the Dunning-Kruger effect (see YouTube: Dunning-Kruger effect). According to it, at least some individuals with poorer skills tend to overestimate their level of competence. When one does not understand the full scope of what they are dealing with, they might imagine they know more than they actually do.
The pursuit of excellence is related to the need for social esteem in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In the hierarchy of needs, it ranks fourth, following physiological needs, the need for safety, and the need for belonging.
At the fifth level of Maslow’s hierarchy, self-actualization, and the sixth level, self-transcendence (which Maslow later added to his model), the pursuit of social acceptance and superiority is no longer central to human aspirations. According to Maslow, individuals who have reached this stage of development no longer feel the need to prove their superiority in any area; it simply doesn’t matter anymore.
The concept of the superiority complex, developed by psychologist Alfred Adler, describes a condition where a person has an exaggerated sense of their own superiority. It can also be a psychological defense mechanism where the feeling of superiority suppresses or hides a feeling of inferiority. Similarly, someone with an inferiority complex imagines themselves to be worse than others.
The task of comprehensive school is to promote human growth. In order to further this goal and serve as an example to those they lead, principals must first grow as individuals. If one remains at the stage of seeking esteem, they have not progressed very far in their development. One must focus on the actual substance, not self-aggrandizement.
Superiority in some area, according to some evaluator, may be a byproduct of good intentions, but it is not a goal in itself—at least not for a comprehensive school principal.
Humility in Leadership
The best leaders embody the description of humility and dedication to their role as written by former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld on July 29, 1959. – Dag Hammarskjöld Markings, July 29, 1959.
The sword depicted in the illustration does not symbolize power, but rather thought and the use of words from the foundation of the aforementioned humility. Furthermore, the right to wield it does not belong solely to those in leadership positions, but to everyone, especially those seeking to share leadership, but only on the condition of humility.
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BH 19.7.2024