How not to become an egotistical jerk—do something hard and real.
Doing something hard and real humbles you. You have to earn your successes. And you can't just deny, rationalize, or talk your failures away.
When the bar drops, it drops. When the table collapses, it collapses.
Doing something hard and real humbles you. You have to earn your successes. And you can't just deny, rationalize, or talk your failures away.
When the bar drops, it drops. When the table collapses, it collapses.
It becomes quite unlikely that you'll get out of touch or full of yourself when you are working on something that is challenging and concrete, when your successes are earned and your failures cannot be rationalized or defended with corporate mumbo-jumbo or social media hot takes.
My most humble executive coaching client is also an avid woodworker.
When you are building tables in your basement you are going to get humbled over and over again. Tables either stand or they don’t. You can’t use power or money or relevance or fame to make a shoddy table stand.
When you are building tables in your basement you are going to get humbled over and over again. Tables either stand or they don’t. You can’t use power or money or relevance or fame to make a shoddy table stand.
Convo with a wise elder friend—who is not an egotistical jerk—after Bill Gates story breaks:
Me: Why do these people completely lose touch? What is it about money, power, and status that just turns you into a douche? Is it unavoidable?
Mike: I am getting more weight equipment.
Me: Why do these people completely lose touch? What is it about money, power, and status that just turns you into a douche? Is it unavoidable?
Mike: I am getting more weight equipment.
Not a cure-all. But one way to stay in touch with reality, especially as you rise, is to quite literally stay in touch with reality. Not spend all day in extra meetings or sitting on fancy boards. Not endlessly refreshing your stocks.
But doing actual, real things in the world.
But doing actual, real things in the world.
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