Boss, leader and the Dunning-Kruger effect

I often see these boss vs leader illustrations in my LinkedIn feed. I’ve seen many people post them — some posters are individual contributors, and some are managers or senior leaders in the industry. People post these illustrations for a number of reasons — we have all encountered managers in either category and we can relate our experiences with them, but I think there’s more. There’s the Dunning-Kruger effect.

For those who are not familiar with the Dunning-Kruger effect, this 5-minute Ted-ed video explains it succinctly. In short, it’s the psychological bias that causes most drivers to believe they’re above average drivers (not me), and 30% to 40% of the engineers to believe their abilities are in the top 5% (definitely me). Conversely individuals who are truly the best in their areas tend to also underestimate their own abilities, thinking everyone else can do the same and not realizing they’re somewhat unique.

How is the Dunning-Kruger effect related to the boss vs leader illustrations? I suspect when managers post or see the illustrations, the majority of them will associate themselves as “the leader” and not “the boss”. This includes, of course, myself.

The reality is, there are a lot more bad bosses than great leaders in the world. They may even be veterans in the industry, dictating and micromanaging every detail while thinking they’re providing great leadership. Leaders who do any self introspection will tell you that it’s very difficult to tell whether they’re perceived as…