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Do you have to be arrogant to succeed?

   Like many others I was brought up with dire warnings against the sin of hubris . Hubris means extreme pride to the point of arrogance True hubris usually indicates a loss of contact with reality and a substantial overestimation of your own abilities. I wrote here last week about the value of confidence in your own ability.  Hmm  - what is too much confidence and what risk does it carry? In fact,  research suggests that there can be benefits for an individual in overestimating their abilities. Research has found that a two-player team consisting of one overconfident and one more rational person outperforms a team consisting of two rational people. This is because overconfidence enhances effort levels – over confident people try harder. It seems that over-confidence probably accounts for the ultimate success of some serial entrepreneurs. There is  evidence that  the earlier failed ventures provide valuable resources for entrepreneurs’ future use.   Being highly co