About 8 months ago my Hard Drive failed and I lost a little over a years worth of data. Luckily, with a little persistence and a little more money I was able to get most of it back. Now, I use about three different backup methods to make sure that something like that never happens again. The big question is, “Why Steven, you savvy tech guru you, didn’t you properly back up your data?”

I think Guy Kawasaki put it best while talking about his own data disaster. What it boils down to is that clever, technically adroit people can easily get caught up in their own sense of invincibility. I thought that something as silly as a hard drive malfunction could never happen to me, so as if to prove me wrong, it did.

For anyone who thinks that such missteps are the exception to the rule, I suggest taking a look at this excerpt from Why Smart People Do Dumb Things by Dr. Mortimer Feinberg and John J. Tarrant and see how many of these harbingers of stupidity you can relate to.

• Hubris. Pride to the point that you no longer feel shame, no longer believe that you are subject to public opinion, and no longer need to fear “the gods.” Examples: Gary Hart’s involvement with Donna Rice that ended his run for the presidency and the Dennis Kozlowski’s (Tyco) $2 million toga party.
• Arrogance. From the Latin word arrogare: “to claim for oneself.” Arrogant people believe they have claim to anything and everything they want–they are “entitled” to it. King David, for example, felt entitled to the wife (Bathsheba) of one of his soldiers. Modern day King Davids feel entitled to corporate jets and an entourage to tell them that their keynote speech rocked.
• Narcissism. Self absorption to the point that you are blind to reality. The world only exists to provide you gratification. Examples: Richard Nixon and Watergate; the Clintons and Whitewater—really just about every politician and CEO who falls from grace.
• Unconscious need to fail. If you think failing is hard, try winning. The questions that go through people’s minds when they they are on the doorstep of success are: Do I really deserve to win? Do I want the pressure of constantly having to win in the future? Can I really handle success? Perhaps this explains why professional athletes still take performance enchancement drugs even after watching their colleagues get busted.

[The picture is of a hard drive produced by the good people at Hitachi]

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