Verified by 
Knowing yourself requires knowing your capabilities. In this respect, LeBron James showed amazing self-insight on Thursday night when he announced he'll be leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join Dwayne Wade in Miami. Why is this insightful? As Bill Simmons and others have argued, LeBron simply may not have the aggressive instincts necessary to single-handedly lead an otherwise-mediocre team to greatness. This is not entirely a bad thing - that killer instinct is what makes Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant so dislikeable to those of us who care about characteristics other than basketball skills (though I will say that MJ has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that Kobe lacks).
Perhaps LeBron realized that he doesn't have the leadership/intimidation skills necessary to whip a team like Cleveland (or New York, or New Jersey) into shape. Perhaps he realized that his skills are best suited to being one of several excellent players on a team that is perfectly capable of winning a championship without him. In making this decision, LeBron chose to forego the chance at Major Glory in exchange for a job that truly suits his strengths. I applaud him for having the self-insight (and humility) to realize this and act on it.
On the other hand, knowing yourself also requires knowing how your actions will be perceived by others. In this respect, LeBron displayed a monumental amount of self-delusion on Thursday night. He agreed to a one-hour Primetime special on ESPN devoted entirely to revealing his decision. After months of buildup and buzz that he certainly did not discourage, he asked for even more attention and special treatment. What's worse, his decision was to leave Ohio, his home state and the site of his most loyal and hopeful fans. He did everything he could to make the pain of the breakup as public and humiliating as possible for Cleveland. This did more than hurt his reputation in Cleveland - the reaction around the country is that LeBron's way of announcing his decision was cruel and completely lacking in compassion. I don't think he had any inkling that it would be received this way.
It's especially unfortunate that the way in which he made his decision was so self-aggrandizing when the decision itself was, in my opinion, rather self-effacing. Not everyone agrees with that, but most people do agree that moving to Miami means giving up the dream of being the uncontested Best Player Ever - a distinction that many still believed LeBron was capable of achieving. The delivery of the message was so completely at odds with the content that it left everyone thinking How Could He Do This?
It goes to show, self-knowledge is a complicated thing. LeBron was wise enough to know his limitations on the basketball court, even when others were surely pumping up his ego and encouraging him to go for the options with greater glory-potential. But he was not wise enough to put a stop to the inordinate attention that was being lavished on him and his decision. He did not realize that lapping up the attention and the special treatment would, in the end, make him look like an inconsiderate bastard.
LeBron's young, only 25. Maybe in a few more years he'll develop self-insight into the consequences of his off-the-court actions, and he will be able to show as much wisdom and self-restraint in his PR decisions as he does in his basketball decisions.
PS: For an example of a complete and total lack of self-knowledge, see Owner, Cavs.
