Hubris
Excessive, overbearing pride and self-confidence that courts a fall.
What it means
Hubris is excessive pride, arrogance, or self-confidence in which a person dramatically overestimates their own competence, importance, or control, often coupled with contempt for others' views and a disregard for limits or risk. Psychologists distinguish it from authentic pride—the warranted, motivating satisfaction in real achievement—as a maladaptive, self-aggrandizing form sometimes called hubristic pride, linked to narcissism, defensiveness, and poor relationships. In decision-making it is closely tied to overconfidence and the illusion of control, and the 'hubris hypothesis' in business holds that overconfident leaders overpay in acquisitions and take outsized risks because they trust their own judgment too much. Its destructiveness is captured in the classical narrative arc in which arrogant overreach invites downfall, and in the proposed 'hubris syndrome' of leaders who, intoxicated by power and success, lose touch with reality and counsel. The corrective is calibration, humility, and seeking disconfirming feedback. It matters because hubris in those with power converts ordinary overconfidence into large, consequential errors.
Examples
A celebrated CEO, certain of his own genius after past wins, pushes through a huge acquisition over all objections—and destroys shareholder value, a textbook case of hubris.
A student who topped every mock exam skips revision and waves off his tutor's warnings, certain his talent will carry him — and is genuinely astonished by the result.
A climber who has summited before ignores the guide's turnaround time, sure the weather will make an exception for him. The confidence that got him up keeps him up too long.