Ego & Humility

I read an interesting post from Guy Kawasaki regarding “Egonomics”.  It is an interview with Steve Smith who wrote the book on it —- egonomics: What Makes Ego Our Greatest Asset (or Most Expensive Liability) 

Here is a quote that really stood out to me regarding humility.

“Question: How can humility survive in a capitalistic, “dog-eat-dog” market?

“Answer: That’s the cool thing we discovered in our work, and the perceived “weakness” of humility is the assumption even in a question like this one. Humility is the only real way to become great, everything else being equal. As a trait, humility is the point of equilibrium between too much ego and not enough. Humility has a reputation of being the polar opposite of excessive ego.

In fact, the exact opposite of excessive ego is no confidence at all. Humility provides the crucial balance between the two extremes. When Jim Collins did his work in Good to Great, humility was one of only two characteristics he discovered that separated leaders capable of leading good—even very good—performing companies, and leaders who made their companies great performers. And all of those leaders who lifted their companies to greatness and sustained them for over fifteen years did it in the same dog-eat-dog world everyone else was in. Humility was custom made for the dog-eat-dog business world.”       (Emphasis Mine) 

To read the whole interview click here.