Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
The dictionary defines 'ego' as "your idea or opinion of yourself, especially your feelings of your self-importance and ability." In itself, nothing sounds problematic. In fact, this ability to know oneself is always an advantage — a reality check that is vital for our own contentment as well as for our relationships with others.
Then, only an ignorant person or a liar would claim to have no ego, for we all have one. It is a part of our psychological structure. The problem occurs when we allow this sense of self to start ballooning, into being an egotist — then it not only becomes a leadership derailer but also creates havoc in the personal and professional lives of those who have to work with such people. The more senior the leaders are, the more they are at the risk of stepping into the black hole area. The reason is that given our cultural deference (often fear) of hierarchy, employees further down the corporate ladder think it unsafe to tell their leaders what they need to be told — and prefer rather to tell them what they like to hear.
Leaders who take accountability for their success as well their team and organization's have to learn to manage this powerful asset well — a skill that can help them multiply their impact manifold.
This has to be done with special focus on areas where the leader is not competent enough and for specific situations that fuel the dark side of their ego and bring out the worst in them. The former calls for building a regular practice of seeking feedback — and not the ceremonial annual theatre most leaders do. The latter, on the other hand, calls for analysing our own interactions from an outside-in view to catch the emotional hijack points — flashes of temper, impatience, feelings of having outsmarted someone, etc., and setting goals to reduce those. Both these areas often call for professional help, blinded as we often are with our 'walls of denial'.
"To start ballooning" means
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → to inflate.
- Ballooning means swelling or growing quickly, like a balloon being blown up. In the passage, the problem begins when we let our sense of self start ballooning into egotism, that is, grow too big.
Example: The cost of the bridge kept ballooning every year. - Inflate means to fill with air and swell, or to make something larger or more important than it is. A ballooning ego is an inflating ego, so "to start ballooning" means to inflate.
Example: Praise from strangers can inflate a young player's pride.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: to deflate. — Incorrect. Deflate means to let the air out; to make smaller, the opposite of ballooning.
Example: The tyre began to deflate after hitting a nail.
Option 3: to lose importance. — Incorrect. A ballooning ego gains a sense of importance; it does not lose it.
Option 4: to create havoc. — Incorrect. Havoc means great disorder and damage. The passage says an inflated ego creates havoc; that is a result of ballooning, not its meaning.
Example: The storm created havoc in the coastal towns.