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If what you mean by "high self-esteem," self-conceit or an over
estimation of one's own competency, you might be interest in a line of
research on managers comparing those who overestimate versus those
who underestimate their skills. If you will send me your snail mail address
and I will send you a paper with a number of references in it to this line
of research. In brief, the under estimators appear to be more
"successful." Sometimes this is referred to as the imposter phenomenon.
As Andy Grove of Intel has become famous for saying, "It's OK to be a
little paranoid."

Frank Shipper Phone: (410) 543-6333
Perdue School of Business Fax: (410) 548-2908
Salisbury State University E-mail: fmshipper@ssu.edu
Salisbury, MD 21801

On Tue, 22 Jul 1997, Frank Shipper wrote:

> If what you mean by "high self-esteem," self-conceit or an over
> estimation of one's own competency, you might be interest in a line of
> research on managers comparing those who overestimate versus those
> who underestimate their skills. If you will send me your snail mail address
> and I will send you a paper with a number of references in it to this line
> of research. In brief, the under estimators appear to be more
> "successful." Sometimes this is referred to as the imposter phenomenon.

I am not surprised to learn that under-estimators appear to be more
"successful."

In golf, we used to call it 'sandbagging.' Passing yourself off as having
a higher hanidcap so you could compete with lesser skilled golfers and win
the flight. I used to think the practice was unsportsman-like. I guess I
was wrong.



______________________
Great Optimism,

Dutch Driver
Dept. of Communication
McMurry University
Abilene, TX
ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu