In today’s fickle and exceptionally sensitive world, the wastes and ruins of pride are littered all around us. From the executive who pridefully ignores a warning from a junior colleague, to a junior who pridefully overlooks a correction; from a husband who tramples over the counsel of his wife, to a wife who refuses to listen to her husband. Pride has been the motivation for a lot of harm.

Friend, in your journey to building a resounding career, you must stop and put pride and ego in check. There is no other way to describe it better than to say, think of yourself less. Although it is your career on the balance, you need the help and guidance of an army of people to see it through. So, maintain a humble disposition.

There are three signs I found that easily indicates pride creeping into your heart: unteachableness, overconfidence and entitlement. In all three, the thread of being overly self-focused runs through to the end.

Unteachable. This is the adjective that describes a deep struggle with learning from others. It is pride to assume that you know it all. Great CEOs and leaders are known to surround themselves with infinitely more knowledgeable people. People with miles of information around their core focus who will guide them in their decision-making. To stay teachable, you necessarily need to stay humble.

Overconfident. There is a dose of confidence that is prime to a successful career anywhere. However, that line can safely cross over to cockiness when it is not checked by reality. Friend, do not overestimate your potentials or abilities. Trust yourself just enough to stay within the boundary of humility, as overconfidence is pride in display.

Lastly, entitlement. It is pride to assume that everyone owes you something. In fact, the “google” meaning of entitlement mentality is a sense of deservingness or being owed a favour… That mindset is simply pride in full or partial display. You are not deserving of a lot of the things that you have. To cure this mindset, stay grateful.

To conclude, friend, if you must, build walls around your mind against the vice of pride. There are people who will support your vision, your career and your journey simply because of the display of humility. Keep a watch to ensure you are being teachable, being confident and not cocky, and watch entitlement mentality by being grateful. Pride ruins everything it touches.

I am rooting for you. Keep that in mind. Cheers.