Pride

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Formerly Famous

Pride causes wars, pride causes deaths, pride causes poverty. It causes a disruption in the society. This world has begun to live with pride surrounding it. And we accept it. Our children get in fights at school due to pride. Adults lose jobs as a result of pride. Pride has corrupted our society.

I've read your entire post several times. What I'm thinking is that the experience that you've had, encouraged a lot of thinking on your part, and you have shared some of your thinking with us here in ChiefDelphi. I'd like to comment on a few of your statements without criticizing your thoughts, but hoping that you continue to explore them and expand them as you continue to develop as a leader.

The quote from your post that I've included in mine, seems to focus on pride as a source of many of our society's troubles and woes. I'm not so sure that it is pride. I think greed, narrow-minded thinking, avarice, selfishness, short-sightedness, and ignorance all play very strong roles in why we are where we are. I think that pride, if not kept in perspective - in check, so to speak - can lead to arrogance and arrogance can lead to a feeling of superiority which can lead to a sense of elitism.

Regarding what happened during the bad weather that affected your team and the conclusion that you came to. What I would add is that you can take a great deal of pride in the fact that members of your team found a way to make the day productive, knowing full well that the leadership could not make it, but that work needed to be done.

Part of the wisdom that goes with leadership is learning to count on and trust your teammates and those you work with. It takes time to build that trust, and it take moments such as the one you've described, to help build it. There are many quotes and sayings that we can think of in times like those. One of my favorites is - when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It takes nothing away from the leadership - it helps define it and strengthen it by revealing the strength, courage, tenacity, and flexibility of the team. I think there is a place for pride in ourselves and in our teams. There is a place for pride in our lives and in our society. It just needs to be kept in perspective and in check, in order to be beneficial and stay healthy.

.02
Thank you for starting this thread, Rion,
Jane