Because of the many diverse responses, to my last post on ego, I thought I should delve a little more into the topic.

Good and bad EGO connotations:

• Good: At the outset an ego fuels and strengthens your confidence to set and achieve goals, and helps you to overcome trials and tribulations bravely. 
• Bad: But an over-inflated ego can give the impression of been arrogant, which can make a person somewhat unpopular. And been unpopular can restrict you in so many ways. 

Secretly:

Most of us want to be popular and have plenty of friends. So we strive to be socially acceptable. 

Connotation of the word Humble:

• Basically, most people think been humble means been poor, having low-esteem, lack of intelligence and not of any importance. And often it’s the case, been gentle and meek, you’re `looked-down-upon’ or taken you’re an `easy-push-over-job’.  
• Because we don’t want to look stupid, pathetic or be take advantage of, what do we do? We try looking and sounding intelligent and very successful. And to be successful, we work hard and do all we can do, to achieve success, do well in business, etc. 

The fact is…  

Humility is an inner strength, not a weakness:

• Humility not only means kindly assisting and thoughtfully understanding others, whoever they may be, but been honest. 
• Knowing who and what you are, gives you the confidence to be honest with yourself. Accepting yourself and knowing what you stand for, helps you overcome inadequacies. Not having to prove anything to anybody, means you can be who you are, without stress of what people may think of you. 
• Having this strong inner energy and character, gives you the wisdom to quietly achieve things without losing logic or temper. Things get done in a calm, orderly manner and atmosphere. 

Here is a short story:

There was once a chap who worked hard to start a business. 

His business was based on his skills, talent and high business acumen to start with. With the taste of success, he thought his firm was doing well all because of him. 

Then he wanted to expand his business. But that meant he had to hire people. He interviewed quite a few, but wasn’t satisfied with the applicants. They didn’t meet his requirements. 

The reason they didn’t come up to par was because he was judging them wrongly. He didn’t want them to be smarter than himself. That could have made him look silly in front of them. 

Then he grasped the fact that it was by the grace of God his firm had done so well up till then. Not him. 

And that his skills, ego and charm only went so far. He actually needed smart guys overseeing departments and skilled people in the areas where he didn’t have skills. 

That was an eye-opener for him. He realized he would have to down-size his ego if he wanted this business to flourish. 

He finally understood, his success up till that point, had given him confidence. Confidence that would help him run the firm with humility and not feel threatened by those who were smarter than himself.  

The staff he gathered around him was highly skilled and intelligent, each in their own field. And they integrated so well together as a team. 

The result was that, not only did his business flourish, but it became one of the biggest concerns, on an international scale! 

For those who are interested:

My last post on ego was: https://steemit.com/life/@artguru/how-smart-is-your-ego