How many times have you seen a promotion elevate a person’s sense of themselves far beyond what seems warranted? Or are you familiar with the individual who constantly finds fault with the efforts of others as an obvious device to showcase their own greatness? But greatness is not measured in being a big fish in a small pond. Greatness is being a big fish in a big pond, that pond being the entire world . Greatness is rare. It’s unlikely you’ll find it in your organization.
The next time you leave the office, open your eyes. What you’ll see everywhere are products of great minds that have created the world we know. No one in your Accounting, HR or even Research and Development Departments are capable of such watershed events or inventions. Automobiles, airplanes, buildings, harnessed electricity, how do we view all this with swelled ego. Of course, you don’t even need to leave the office. Sit at your desk, connected to the internet, and try to convince yourself you’re great.
Why bother pointing this out? Aren’t we taught from the time we’re little that we’re special? I only do so because I’ve seen too often how a misguided sense of greatness can make one hypercritical of others. How it bestows on a person the right to judge others. How it can create a distaste for imperfection?
If you need further proof of your own limitations, look beyond the inventions of mankind into the expanse of the sky. No, you aren’t great, but you just may approach greatness in your treatment of others. Help others do their jobs more effectively if necessary. Remove those silly notions of greatness from your self image, accept your own imperfections and those of others, and become a great person in the process.