Hubris Syndrome: What it Is, Symptoms, and Causes

A few years ago, I worked with a senior executive I’ll call Michael who’d been referred by his company’s board of directors. Michael had built the organization from the ground up over fifteen years, transforming it into an industry leader. But somewhere along that trajectory, something had shifted. He’d become increasingly dismissive of his leadership team’s concerns, made impulsive decisions without consultation, and seemed genuinely surprised when questioned about choices that had cost the company millions. “I’ve been right for fifteen years,” he told me during our first session, gesturing expansively. “Why would I suddenly be wrong now?”

Michael wasn’t a bad person. He wasn’t even particularly narcissistic when I evaluated him more thoroughly. What he was experiencing was something far more insidious and, frankly, more common than most people realize. Power had fundamentally altered his personality, judgment, and behavior in ways he couldn’t even recognize. This is hubris syndrome in action, and I’ve seen it destroy careers, relationships, organizations, and sometimes entire communities.

Power and success can profoundly reshape how individuals see themselves, others, and their responsibilities to the world around them. Hubris syndrome represents the dark side of achievement, occurring when people in positions of authority develop excessive self-confidence, contempt for dissenting opinions, and dangerous detachment from reality. This condition has been documented across political leaders, corporate executives, military commanders, and influential figures who gradually lose the humility and perspective that once guided their rise to power.

What makes this particularly fascinating from a clinical psychology perspective is that hubris syndrome challenges our assumptions about what should be calming or disturbing. You’d think that success would make people more confident but also more grateful, more aware of their good fortune. Instead, what happens is something almost paradoxical. The very success that should humble us often inflates us beyond recognition. Understanding hubris syndrome matters not just for those in leadership positions, but for anyone working with, voting for, or affected by powerful individuals whose judgment may be compromised by their own success.

The Origins and Definition of Hubris Syndrome

The term hubris syndrome was introduced by Lord David Owen, a British neurologist and former Foreign Secretary, along with psychiatrist Jonathan Davidson in 2008. Owen’s unique perspective came from his dual experience as both a practicing physician and politician, allowing him to observe firsthand how political power alters mental states and decision-making processes. They described it as a disorder affecting individuals in positions of power, characterized by overconfidence, arrogance, and diminished accountability that emerges specifically from exercising authority.

What struck me when I first encountered Owen’s work was how precisely it described patterns I’d been seeing in my own practice. I work primarily with anxiety and trauma, but over the years, I’ve had increasing numbers of referrals from organizations concerned about leadership behavior. These weren’t people with personality disorders in the traditional sense. They were individuals who had changed, sometimes dramatically, after assuming positions of significant power.

Hubris syndrome is not formally recognized in diagnostic manuals like the DSM-5 or ICD-10, which has sparked ongoing debate about whether it constitutes a true mental disorder or simply a behavioral pattern. Owen deliberately chose the term “syndrome” as a compromise, identifying abnormal behaviors for diagnostic purposes without necessarily ascribing full pathological status. What distinguishes hubris syndrome from inherent personality traits is its temporal relationship with power, symptoms typically emerge after someone assumes authority and often diminish when that power is relinquished.

The concept draws from ancient Greek philosophy, where hubris referred to excessive pride or defiance that inevitably led to downfall. In Greek tragedies, hubris represented a fatal character flaw where individuals defied natural limits or divine order, ultimately suffering devastating consequences. The Greeks understood something we’re only now rediscovering through neuroscience and psychology: power changes us in predictable and often destructive ways.

This classical understanding remains remarkably relevant today. I’ve watched modern leaders engineer their own destruction through the same arrogant overreach that doomed tragic heroes millennia ago. The details change, but the pattern remains consistent across cultures and centuries.

Recognizing the Warning Signs and Symptoms

Individuals developing hubris syndrome display a constellation of behavioral and psychological changes that intensify over time. These symptoms reflect fundamental shifts in how they perceive themselves, process information, and interact with others. Recognizing these patterns early can prevent the destructive decision-making that hubris ultimately produces. I’ve broken down the most significant symptoms I’ve observed both in research and in my own clinical work.

Exaggerated self-confidence bordering on feelings of omnipotence is often the first sign that something has shifted. People with emerging hubris syndrome develop an inflated sense of their abilities that goes well beyond healthy confidence. They begin believing they possess unique qualifications that others lack, feel exceptionally special, and demand preferential treatment that reflects their perceived superiority. This isn’t ordinary confidence or healthy self-assurance. It’s a conviction of infallibility that makes them genuinely believe they cannot fail, no matter how risky the venture.

I remember a patient who was a brilliant entrepreneur. She’d had three successful startups before I met her. By the time she walked into my office, she was convinced she had “the golden touch” and couldn’t understand why her board was questioning her decision to pivot the entire company into a market she knew nothing about. “I’ve never failed,” she told me flatly. “Why would I start now?” Six months later, the company was hemorrhaging money.

Contempt for others’ opinions and advice follows closely behind inflated self-regard. This is one of the most damaging symptoms because it cuts off the very feedback that might correct course before disaster strikes. These individuals refuse meaningful dialogue because they view only their own judgments as valid. They actively surround themselves with people who won’t dare contradict them, creating echo chambers that reinforce distorted worldviews. I’ve observed this pattern repeatedly with patients in leadership roles. They systematically eliminate dissenting voices from their inner circles, then wonder why they’re blindsided by problems everyone else saw coming.

Progressive isolation and loss of contact with reality develops as hubris deepens. Affected individuals come to believe they’re invincible or exempt from rules that govern others, leading to reckless decision-making and impulsive actions. This detachment often manifests as leaders making decisions based on “broad vision” or “moral rectitude” while completely ignoring practical considerations like cost, feasibility, or potential negative consequences. They become so focused on the grand gesture that they lose sight of mundane details like whether something will actually work.

Those suffering from hubris syndrome also develop excessive preoccupation with legacy and how history will remember them. They prioritize their personal reputation and historical significance over the actual well-being of the people or organizations they ostensibly serve. This manifests in grandiose projects, dramatic gestures, and decision-making driven more by how actions will look in retrospect than whether they’re genuinely beneficial. I’ve had patients who made catastrophic business decisions because they were worried about being seen as “too cautious” or “not visionary enough.”

Impulsivity and unilateral decision-making without consulting advisors or experts becomes standard operating procedure. They’re convinced their instincts and ideas automatically surpass those of specialists who’ve spent decades developing expertise. The psychological distance created by power makes them less sensitive to contextual information and less able to genuinely hear others’ perspectives. One CEO I worked with fired his entire senior leadership team after they expressed concerns about a merger. He proceeded alone, and the company never recovered.

Any form of questioning or opposition triggers disproportionately negative reactions and defensive behavior. These individuals become intensely defensive and sometimes retaliatory toward those who challenge them, viewing criticism as personal attack rather than valuable feedback. In my clinical experience, this intolerance for being questioned often represents the point where hubris syndrome begins causing serious organizational or personal damage. The moment a leader can’t tolerate dissent is the moment they’ve become dangerous to themselves and others.

A sense of moral infallibility emerges, creating conviction that their actions are inherently justified regardless of ethical concerns. This moral licensing allows leaders to rationalize unethical behavior by believing their past accomplishments provide moral “credit” that excuses present transgressions. They engage in self-glorifying actions and fall into grandiloquence, speaking about even minor achievements in messianic, exalted terms. I’ve listened to patients describe routine business decisions as if they were saving civilization itself.

Perhaps most concerning from a psychological and human perspective, hubris syndrome progressively diminishes the capacity for empathy. Research demonstrates that the more power individuals hold, the greater the risk of becoming emotionally disconnected from others’ experiences and concerns. Leaders begin seeing themselves as fundamentally different from or superior to the people they’re meant to serve, making decisions that would be obviously harmful if they retained the ability to genuinely consider others’ perspectives. This erosion of empathy is what transforms hubris from merely annoying to genuinely dangerous.

What Causes Hubris Syndrome to Develop

Hubris syndrome is not an inherent personality disorder but rather a behavioral transformation triggered by specific environmental and psychological factors. Understanding what produces hubris syndrome is essential for prevention, as it reveals that this condition can potentially affect anyone exposed to sufficient power under the right circumstances. That’s what makes it so insidious. We’d all like to believe we’d be immune, but the research suggests otherwise.

The duration and magnitude of power someone exercises directly correlate with hubris syndrome development. Research suggests that long-term exposure to authority fundamentally alters brain function, particularly in regions governing empathy, impulse control, and self-regulation. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for judgment and considering consequences, appears especially vulnerable to power-induced changes that compromise decision-making quality. This isn’t just metaphorical. Power literally changes your brain in measurable ways.

I find this both fascinating and terrifying. It means that the very act of wielding power makes you less capable of wielding it wisely. When leaders operate without meaningful checks on their authority, they’re far more likely to develop hubristic patterns. Lack of accountability creates an environment where leaders face no consequences for poor decisions, gradually fostering a sense of invulnerability and superiority. This explains why hubris syndrome appears more frequently in contexts with weak oversight mechanisms or cultures that discourage questioning authority.

Surrounding oneself with agreeable subordinates who constantly validate decisions dramatically accelerates hubris syndrome development. This social reinforcement creates what psychologists call the isolation effect. As power increases, fewer people dare challenge the leader’s views, producing an echo chamber that distorts reality. I’ve watched this pattern destroy previously effective leaders who systematically replaced capable advisors with compliant ones. They didn’t set out to create a bubble. But each time someone disagreed with them, it felt like disloyalty rather than valuable input, so they gradually assembled teams that told them only what they wanted to hear.

Continuous achievement without setbacks or failures paradoxically becomes a vulnerability. People experiencing unbroken success may develop beliefs in their own infallibility, with each victory reinforcing hubristic tendencies rather than fostering appropriate humility. The absence of corrective feedback from failure allows distorted self-perception to escalate unchecked. This is why some of the most dangerous leaders are those who’ve genuinely been successful for extended periods. Their track record isn’t just a credential. It becomes a weapon they use against anyone who questions them.

Power creates both literal and psychological distance between leaders and the people affected by their decisions. This increased distance makes leaders feel better about themselves, boosting confidence to the point of overconfidence, while simultaneously making it easier to ignore potentially important details. When you don’t directly witness the human impact of your choices, it’s far easier to make decisions that would be obviously problematic if you maintained connection with affected individuals.

Some researchers propose that power may specifically affect the prefrontal cortex in ways that compromise self-regulation and impulse control. These neurological changes could explain why hubris syndrome produces such consistent behavioral patterns across different individuals and contexts. The intoxication of power, as philosopher Bertrand Russell described it, may have genuine neurobiological substrates that make it a form of altered mental state rather than simply character weakness.

How Hubris Manifests in Leadership and Politics

Hubris syndrome manifests with particular frequency and consequence among political leaders, corporate executives, and other influential figures whose decisions affect large numbers of people. History provides abundant examples of leaders whose initial competence and success gradually transformed into arrogant overreach that ultimately destroyed what they’d built.

In political contexts, hubris syndrome produces leaders who make unilateral decisions of enormous consequence without consulting experts, dismiss legitimate criticism as malicious or ignorant, and prioritize personal legacy over public welfare. The syndrome is more likely to manifest the longer someone exercises power and the greater the power they wield. Term limits and robust checks on executive authority exist partly to prevent this predictable trajectory from causing catastrophic damage.

Corporate leadership provides equally clear examples. I’ve consulted with organizations where previously visionary CEOs became liabilities as success bred hubris. They launched reckless ventures without due diligence, suppressed dissenting analyses from their leadership teams, and reacted with fury when questioned about strategies that threatened the company’s survival. Boards of directors often struggle with this situation. The very achievements that make firing such leaders seem unthinkable are what produced the hubristic transformation threatening the organization.

Some behaviors that strongly suggest hubris syndrome in leadership include making unilateral decisions without consulting subject matter experts, dismissing criticism as irrelevant or malicious rather than engaging with its substance, engaging in scandals or corruption due to a belief in being above the law, and prioritizing personal reputation over the welfare of constituents or stakeholders. I’ve seen leaders sacrifice entire organizations on the altar of their own legacy concerns.

What’s particularly tragic is that many of these leaders were genuinely talented and capable before power transformed them. They didn’t start as monsters or incompetents. They started as people with vision and ability who gradually lost their moorings as success insulated them from feedback and accountability.

Protecting Against Hubris in Yourself and Others

While hubris syndrome poses genuine risks, it’s neither inevitable nor irreversible. Anyone in positions of power or influence can develop these symptoms, but deliberate practices and structural safeguards can prevent or mitigate the syndrome’s emergence. This is where my work becomes less about diagnosis and more about prevention and intervention.

The most effective prevention is creating robust accountability systems that leaders cannot circumvent. Transparent governance structures, genuinely independent oversight, and ethical frameworks that apply equally to all organizational levels help prevent the sense of invulnerability that fuels hubris. Term limits and leadership rotation reduce the prolonged power exposure that research identifies as the primary risk factor. I always recommend that organizations build these structures before they’re needed, not after a crisis reveals their absence.

Leaders must actively maintain access to people who will provide critical, unfiltered feedback. Surrounding yourself with advisors who challenge your thinking, offer alternative perspectives, and genuinely disagree when warranted serves as essential protection against reality distortion. This requires not just tolerating dissent but actively rewarding it, which becomes increasingly difficult as power and confidence grow. I coach executives to specifically seek out the people who make them uncomfortable, the ones who question their assumptions most directly.

Regular, systematic self-examination helps leaders maintain awareness of their biases, limitations, and blind spots. Engaging with feedback mechanisms, conducting post-mortems on decisions regardless of outcome, and actively questioning your own certainty can counteract the confidence-inflating effects of power. I recommend leaders maintain relationships with therapists, coaches, or mentors specifically tasked with challenging their self-perception. Not yes-men. Not cheerleaders. People whose job is to tell you when you’re wrong.

Organizational and governmental structures should distribute authority rather than concentrating it in single individuals. Implementing genuine checks and balances, requiring collaborative decision-making for major choices, and creating cultures where questioning authority is encouraged rather than punished all reduce hubris syndrome risk. The goal is making it structurally difficult for any one person to accumulate too much unchecked power.

Investing in emotional intelligence development helps leaders maintain empathy and self-awareness as power increases. Since power systematically erodes empathy, leaders need deliberate practices to counteract this erosion. Direct contact with affected stakeholders, mandatory exposure to consequences of decisions, and training in perspective-taking all help. I’ve worked with CEOs who instituted policies requiring them to spend time regularly with frontline employees or customers specifically to combat the isolation that executive suites naturally create.

Organizations and political systems should reward leaders for servant leadership rather than personal accomplishment. When cultures celebrate leaders who elevate others, consider diverse perspectives, and admit mistakes, they create environments where hubristic behaviors are discouraged rather than tacitly encouraged. This cultural shift requires changing how we select, evaluate, and compensate leaders at every level. We need to stop promoting the people who are most confident and start promoting the people who are most thoughtful.

The Psychological Impact on Those Around Hubristic Leaders

Something we don’t discuss enough is the psychological toll hubris syndrome takes on the people surrounding the affected leader. Working for or with someone exhibiting severe hubris creates a toxic environment that damages mental health and organizational culture. I’ve treated numerous patients who weren’t the hubristic leaders themselves but rather the people caught in their wake.

These individuals often experience anxiety, depression, and symptoms of workplace trauma. They describe feeling powerless, voiceless, and trapped in situations where speaking truth to power results in retaliation or dismissal. The constant invalidation of their expertise and perspective erodes their confidence and sense of professional identity. Many develop learned helplessness, where they stop trying to intervene or offer input because they’ve learned their contributions will be dismissed or punished.

Organizations led by individuals with hubris syndrome suffer from poor morale, high turnover among talented staff, and a culture of fear rather than innovation. The best people leave first because they have options and won’t tolerate the dysfunction. What remains is either people who have nowhere else to go or those who’ve learned to simply tell the leader what they want to hear. Neither group will save the organization when the inevitable crisis arrives.

Family members of hubristic leaders face particular challenges. They often watch helplessly as someone they love transforms into someone they barely recognize. Spouses describe feeling abandoned as their partners become consumed with legacy and image. Children grow up with parents who are physically present but emotionally absent, focused on their own importance rather than family relationships. The personal cost of hubris extends far beyond professional consequences.

Can Hubris Syndrome Be Treated or Reversed

The question I’m asked most frequently is whether someone with hubris syndrome can recover. The answer is complicated but ultimately hopeful. Yes, hubris syndrome is considered potentially reversible, which distinguishes it from fixed personality disorders. Symptoms typically diminish when individuals no longer exercise the power that produced them, and the condition can be managed through increased self-awareness, honest feedback systems, and external accountability mechanisms.

In my clinical practice, I’ve seen executives recover substantially once they engaged in genuine self-reflection and rebuilt advisory relationships they’d destroyed. However, reversal requires the person to recognize the problem, which their distorted self-perception often prevents. This is the cruel catch-22 of hubris syndrome. The condition makes you unable to see that you have the condition.

Therapeutic intervention can be valuable both preventively and once symptoms emerge. Working with a psychologist or executive coach provides the honest feedback and external perspective that power-induced isolation typically eliminates. In my practice, I work with leaders on maintaining self-awareness, recognizing cognitive distortions that power produces, and developing practices to counteract empathy erosion.

However, therapy only works if the leader recognizes the need for it, which hubris syndrome often prevents. This is why mandating executive coaching or psychological support for senior leaders regardless of perceived need can be valuable. It normalizes the process and ensures access before problems become severe. Some organizations have implemented policies requiring therapy or coaching as a condition of executive positions, not as punishment but as protective infrastructure.

The most dramatic reversals I’ve witnessed came when leaders experienced significant failures that forced recalibration of their self-perception. Losing a position of power, facing public consequences for poor decisions, or experiencing personal crises that humbled them sometimes creates openings for genuine change. Rock bottom, as difficult as it is, can be the beginning of recovery. But waiting for rock bottom isn’t a strategy. Prevention is far preferable to cure.

Why Understanding Hubris Matters for Everyone

You might be thinking that hubris syndrome only matters if you’re a CEO or senator, but that’s not true. Understanding this phenomenon matters for everyone because we all interact with power structures and powerful people. We vote for political leaders. We work in organizations with hierarchies. We participate in communities with formal and informal authority structures.

Recognizing the signs of hubris syndrome helps you protect yourself and your interests. If you can identify when a leader is exhibiting these symptoms, you can adjust your expectations, protect yourself from the inevitable fallout, or work to implement accountability structures before disaster strikes. Knowledge is power, and in this case, knowledge about how power corrupts is specifically the kind of power that can protect you.

Understanding hubris also helps us design better systems. If we accept that power reliably changes people in predictable ways, we can build organizations and governments that account for this reality. We can create structures that distribute power, enforce accountability, protect dissent, and rotate leadership before anyone stays in power long enough to be transformed by it. This isn’t pessimism about human nature. It’s realism about human neurology.

For those in or aspiring to leadership positions, understanding hubris syndrome is essential for self-protection. If you know the warning signs and risk factors, you can take preventive action before the syndrome takes hold. You can build your own accountability structures, cultivate relationships that keep you grounded, and develop practices that maintain your connection to reality and empathy even as your power and success grow. The leaders who last longest and do the most good are those who take hubris seriously as a threat to be managed, not an impossibility that could never happen to them.

FAQs About Hubris Syndrome

Is Hubris Syndrome Officially Recognized as a Mental Disorder?

No, hubris syndrome is not classified as a mental disorder in diagnostic manuals like the DSM-5 or ICD-10. Lord David Owen deliberately chose the term “syndrome” to identify the behavioral pattern without necessarily claiming it constitutes a clinical psychiatric condition. However, the phenomenon is widely recognized among researchers studying leadership, power dynamics, and organizational psychology. The absence of formal diagnostic status doesn’t diminish its clinical relevance or the very real consequences it produces. In my practice, I don’t need an official diagnosis to recognize and treat the pattern of symptoms that characterize hubris syndrome.

How Is Hubris Syndrome Different from Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

While both conditions involve arrogance and diminished empathy, they have fundamentally different origins and patterns. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a stable personality disorder that typically begins in early adulthood and affects all life domains consistently across time. Hubris syndrome, in contrast, is situationally triggered. It emerges specifically in response to power and success, often diminishes when that power is removed, and wouldn’t have been present earlier in the person’s life. Someone can develop hubris syndrome without having any underlying personality disorder. I’ve worked with patients who were humble and collaborative before assuming leadership positions, only to become arrogant and dismissive after years in power. That transformation is hubris syndrome, not narcissism.

Can Someone with Hubris Syndrome Actually Change?

Yes, and this is one of the more hopeful aspects of hubris syndrome compared to true personality disorders. Symptoms typically diminish when individuals no longer exercise the power that produced them, and the condition can be managed through increased self-awareness, honest feedback systems, and external accountability mechanisms. In my clinical work, I’ve seen executives recover substantially once they engaged in genuine self-reflection and rebuilt advisory relationships they’d destroyed. However, reversal requires the person to recognize the problem, which their distorted self-perception often prevents. The key is intervention early, before the syndrome becomes so entrenched that the person is completely unable to see it in themselves.

What Professions or Roles Are Most at Risk?

Hubris syndrome appears most frequently among political leaders, corporate CEOs, military commanders, and other influential public figures who exercise substantial authority. However, the syndrome can affect anyone in positions of power or authority, from department heads to small business owners, from academic deans to nonprofit founders. The determining factors are the magnitude and duration of power someone wields and whether accountability mechanisms constrain that power, not the specific professional context. I’ve observed hubris syndrome in medical practice leaders, senior clergy, successful entrepreneurs, and even prominent academics. Anywhere unchecked authority exists long enough, hubris can take root.

What Are the Real-World Consequences of Hubris Syndrome?

Hubris syndrome produces serious consequences at individual, organizational, and societal levels. It leads to reckless decision-making, ethical violations, corruption, and governance failures that can trigger political scandals, corporate collapses, financial crises, or military disasters. For the affected individual, hubris syndrome often culminates in dramatic downfall. The arrogant overreach that the syndrome produces tends to create the very catastrophes that end careers and destroy legacies. Organizations led by individuals with hubris syndrome suffer from poor strategic decisions, loss of talent, damaged reputations, and sometimes complete organizational failure. The human cost extends to employees, stakeholders, and communities affected by failed leadership.

Can Power Ever Be Exercised Without Developing Hubris?

Yes, though it requires deliberate effort and structural safeguards. Leaders who maintain genuine humility, actively seek critical feedback, remain accountable to oversight mechanisms, and practice servant leadership can exercise substantial power without developing hubris syndrome. The key is recognizing that power inherently creates psychological vulnerabilities and implementing practices specifically designed to counteract those vulnerabilities. Self-awareness about the risks, combined with environmental constraints on authority, allows leaders to harness the benefits of power while avoiding its pathological effects. I’ve worked with leaders who’ve held significant power for extended periods without showing symptoms of hubris, but in every case, they had strong support systems, built-in accountability, and deep commitment to staying grounded.

Should Organizations Screen for Hubris Risk During Hiring?

Ideally, yes. Organizations could benefit from assessing candidates for leadership positions on factors that predict hubris vulnerability, including how they handle criticism, their openness to feedback, their tolerance for uncertainty, and their ability to maintain perspective. However, screening alone isn’t sufficient because hubris syndrome develops situationally in response to power rather than existing as a pre-existing trait. More important than initial screening is creating organizational cultures and governance structures that prevent hubris development regardless of who assumes leadership roles. The best approach combines careful selection with robust systems that constrain power and maintain accountability.

What Role Can Therapy or Coaching Play?

Therapeutic intervention can be valuable both preventively and once symptoms emerge. Working with a psychologist or executive coach provides the honest feedback and external perspective that power-induced isolation typically eliminates. In my practice, I work with leaders on maintaining self-awareness, recognizing cognitive distortions that power produces, and developing practices to counteract empathy erosion. However, therapy only works if the leader recognizes the need for it, which hubris syndrome often prevents. This is why mandating executive coaching or psychological support for senior leaders regardless of perceived need can be valuable. It normalizes the process and ensures access before problems become severe. The most effective interventions happen before hubris takes hold, not after it’s already caused damage.

How Can You Protect Yourself If You Work for Someone with Hubris Syndrome?

This is a question I get frequently from patients who aren’t the leaders themselves but work under them. First, document everything carefully to protect yourself if decisions go wrong. Second, maintain relationships and networks outside the immediate organization so you have options if the situation becomes untenable. Third, try to present feedback or concerns in ways that don’t trigger the leader’s defensive reactions, framing suggestions as supporting their goals rather than questioning their judgment. Fourth, recognize when the situation is unsalvageable and be prepared to leave. Your mental health and career matter more than loyalty to a failing leader. Finally, don’t internalize the invalidation and dismissal. The problem isn’t that your input isn’t valuable. The problem is that the leader has lost the ability to recognize valuable input when they hear it.