Where's that Damned Cat?
The difference between feeling ready and being ready
“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”
— Mark Twain
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Where’s that Damned Cat?
There once was a mouse who lived in a tavern. One night the mouse found a leaky barrel of beer and drank all he could hold. When he finished, he sat up, twirled his whiskers, and looked around arrogantly. “Now then,” he said, “where’s that damned cat?”
There's an old saying: perception is reality. For the people watching and listening to you, that's true … and it matters enormously. But if your own perception loses touch with reality, that same principle becomes the most dangerous idea in the room.
The mouse from the opening story didn’t understand this.
And, we’ve all met that mouse, or maybe even been that mouse. A big win, a great quarter, a standing ovation … suddenly we’re twirling our whiskers, puffing out our chest, and looking for cats we were scared of earlier. Nothing in that room changed, except the mouse's willingness to see it clearly. And that’s a dangerous place to lead from.
The mouse wasn’t magically stronger after tipping back some beers. The cat didn’t get smaller. The matchup didn’t change beyond the mouse’s clarity of his odds.
That’s what hubris does. It doesn’t eliminate threats; it dulls your awareness of them. An inflated ego disguises itself as confidence and quietly convinces you that the hard-earned lessons life gave you no longer apply. You’ve arrived, earned it, and nothing can stop you now.
But the cat is still there.
Those with the greatest influence carry their success lightly. They stay curious and coachable. They keep asking hard questions, especially when things are going well. Humility gives clarity. It’s the discipline of seeing reality as it is, not as you’d prefer it to be.
Mice that go looking for cats don’t usually get to tell the story.
When you’re a mouse leading other mice, the barrel of beer doesn’t just affect you. A leader’s inflated confidence can become the group’s collective blind spot.
We’ve seen it in locker rooms where early success turns into overconfidence and preparation quietly slips. Or in organizations where a few strong years harden into entitlement, and leaders stop listening to the warning signs around them. Confidence is essential—it’s contagious and energizing—but it must be sustained by competence. By the work, preparation, and honest assessment of where you actually stand.
The best leaders celebrate with their people and then get back to work. Stay humble, lead with earned confidence, and let discipline move you—not the moment. Because when perception drifts too far from reality, it isn’t the cat that becomes dangerous. It’s you.
“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
— Edmund Hillary
Connecting this quote to the story. The mouse wasn’t facing a new cat … he was facing his own unchecked ego, and the real battle wasn’t against the threat in the room but against the inflated version of himself that believed he was invincible.
This week’s Chasing Influence tip: Don’t let a little success intoxicate your judgment.