Humility

Sometimes I wonder if arrogance comes hand-in-hand with my job. Being on the phone everyday, discussing various market factors, catching up on the various human "merry-go-rounds" (i.e. job hopping, especially given that there is a current human resource shortage in my line of work), and after a while, one would take things for granted. After all, information is power, and who we choose to share it with or use it to one's advantage (or not!) will either bring one to great heights or to ruination. Power corrupts, literally.

Being close to someone doesn't mean we should shout at them or have the right to scold, especially if the persons are providing a service. As they say, "Client is always right". Really? Does that mean we can talk bad or diss the service personnel? I see that happening most of the time in daily life, and I admit, I have had my own fair share.

What brought about this post? Something happened in the office today, and I was particularly arrogant with my comments about some of the new market sales staff. A colleague said something which hit me hard, and her comments made me realise that I should be more humble. She said, "You were there once...", and that literally stopped me in my tracks. Gave me loads to think about and I felt ashamed for the arrogant comments made.

Sigh, it's difficult in my line of work, but not impossible to be humble, especially when we have to deal with people. Our inherent arrogance is a hard thing to suppress. Some don't care, and my big boss once told me, "most fund managers are arrogant". But in the corporate world, some balance need to be sought to be able to survive, otherwise there would be too many knives pointing at one's back. The need to survive in the corporate world needs both a semblance of hard skills, as well as the more difficult softer skills of handling people. And the higher up one goes, softer skills play even more prominence to not ruffle feathers and to prevent many from feeling indignant.

So be it. The reminder to be humble was very timely, and I secretly thank my colleague for the harsh admonishment. It is a constant challenge to be a better person.