About Overconfidence and Hubris

In 2011, I had an interview call from IIM Ahmedabad. The format was that one had to write an essay, and then there was an interview. IIMA had done away with group discussion and used to give 12 minutes to write the essay. I had just taken the GMAT and scored 6.0/6.0, a rare score on the essay. I was so confident in acing the IIMA essay that I did not prepare for it. On the day of the interview, I couldn’t finish the essay. I was waitlisted, and it never converted. Hubris cost me that day.

The recent national elections in India are another case in point. The ruling party aimed to get more than 400 seats. It was so confident that most media called it the most boring election. It looked like everybody was preparing for the 2029 elections, as this was a foregone conclusion. The result was that the ruling party fell below the majority mark. The voters did not come out. Some were miffed because of this overconfidence. Others wanted to rein them in or were worried about the effects of having this major majority. There was discontent on the ground, but the party was oblivious to it because it was confident they would win. They did not have their ear to the ground, and again, hubris cost them.

To succeed in life, confidence is important. Confidence is about self-belief. There is humility to know that the task at hand is important but the belief that one can succeed. Overconfidence is about superiority and being blind to the task's difficulty or the competition's preparation. One starts to believe the myths one has built about himself and starts feeling superior. This superiority makes one forget what made you succeed in the first place. Then, when it matters the most, you fail primarily because you forgot to consider some factors. From Pakistan’s defeat in all wars in India to India's loss in the 2023 World Cup final, this story has been repeated many times.

Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. And always take every task seriously.