💡Pride - Ep #21
When did Pride become a Dirty Word...
... and why is it perceived to be completely at odds with humility?
I've navigated immense failures, financial calamity, career setbacks, and 15 relocations in the last 3 years...
Regardless of the reality that my life looks radically different than anything I ever could have imagined, I have an unbreakable sense of Pride in the choices I've made and the essence of who I've become.
At the same time, and this may to sound a tad arrogant...
I do believe I'm an incredibly empathetic and humble leader because of the scars earned over the last decade of storms.
For many, nurturing a healthy and measured sense of Pride is one of the first steps to healing...
... and from it spring confidence, resilience, adaptability, and grit.
Traits that we all desire... that are hard earned... and are often masked under our imposter syndrome and various self-exclusions.
So my hope with this week's Sunday Sips, is that it empowers you to reclaim a lost sense of Pride and intrinsic self-worth ... without fear of becoming an arrogant bag of dirt.
So let's get to work!
Today's "Sunday Sip" is inspired by Cassandre a Clinician, Mother, Community Builder, and one of the newest member of The Big Brain Club [Pro]
She recently shared in her "Find Your Next" post that the life she desires to build would look something like this:
- "I want to build a community-powered wound care education business with multiple streams of income that is profitable, healing, and joyful—where people learn through connection, story, and support. I’d like this to give me more time freedom, financial independence, and the ability to create a new kind of trusted space in wound care. I’d also like to be a respected voice in the field, not because I know it all—but because I never stop learning and sharing."
I'm genuinely captivated by the life that Cassandre desires to build, as she is casting a bold vision of global healing, financial abundance, and joyful pride in the future works of her hands.
Every word she put down on paper make me more and more excited to see her win.
Its the same feeling I experience when after months of long distance training under the blazing sun, or being soaked in rain, or chilled to the bone in Chicago ice and snow... that yields a beautiful moment of crossing the finish line of another half marathon.
When we push ourselves to the edge of our limitations and still cross that finish line, we raise our arms in victory as we delight in fruits of our labor...Pride
So imagine what your life could look like if you carried that Prideful feeling into each new chapter...
3 Lingering Thoughts...
1. Pride and Humility are not Mutually Exclusive
Last week a LinkedIn post I made exploded...
...yielding 5000+ views, 3 reposts, and multiple job opportunities and interviews.
It was one of the most challenging posts I've ever written because of its raw vulnerability and the way that I held both Pride and Humility in loving tension.
Here's an excerpt:
For some reason making this post embarrasses me... but fuck it... someone needs to hear it.
In the past 48 hours I've had two interviews:
One at Amazon -> 3rd shift loading packages into trucks...
One at Chipotle Mexican Grill -> 2nd shift rolling burritos in Mundelein...
In parallel I've applied to a Senior Director of R&D Engineering at Edwards Lifesciences and a Technical Sales Manager MedTech Digital at Johnson & Johnson MedTech.
And while I'm incredibly excited about the medTech Global Leadership opportunities...
I'm equally excited about getting some cash flow and seeing what I can learn at Amazon/Chipotle on the ground floor.
I'm proud of the fact that I haven't had a paycheck for the past 11 months post JNJ exit to continue life in Japan.
I'm proud of the fact that I've been more present as a stay at home father of 4 and care taker for my grandfather who's battling kidney failure in Chicago than at any other point in my career.
I'm proud of the fact that I'm finding 2nd and 3rd shift opportunities to open up our finances while supporting my wife's career (1st shift) after 8 years of stay at home mom life.
I'm proud of the fact that over the past 11 months I've toiled relentlessly as an entrepreneur, failed multiple times, hit zero in Japan, relocated to Chicago on our own dime in 20 days, zeroed our 401k, discovered my product market fit, and realized the timelines necessary to scale a financially successful business.
So yes, I'm excited about $22/hour at Amazon and $18/hour at Chipotle, while moonlighting my entrepreneurial ventures and serving others... even as I wait for the upper 100/200k medTech opportunities to roll in next...
Here's a link to the full post if you'd like to explore the 50+ comments where folks share how they were encouraged by this display of humble pride.
I believe everyone has a story worth telling and as you learn how to do so with greater humility and deeper pride, it unlocks beautiful connections and unexpected opportunities.
2. Humility is the Origin... Pride is the Vector
One of the most iconic movie villains of this century, without question is...
"Vector" -> from Despicable Me
I’m applying for a new villain loan, go by the name of… Vector.
It’s a mathematical term, a quantity represented by an arrow with both direction and magnitude.
VECTOR!
That’s me, ‘cause I’m committing crimes, with both direction... and… MAGNITUDE!
OH YEAH!
Back in my high school physics days I loved calculating vectors which began at an origin position and expend out to a new location.
When we consider how to tell our story, being authentic and transparent about our origin story roots the dialogue in humility. Sticking on the villain thing, people want to know where you got your scars... as scars build trust and keep you out of the dirt bag "boasting" realm.
Pride enables you to cast a future vision with both direction and MAGNITUDE!
And as long as this Magnitude is tethered to the humble origin, then you can extend out as far as you like with the Vision and people will follow.
During my time Directing Innovation from Japan at JNJ, I casts some incredibly bold visions of including the voice of Japanese clinicians directly in our R&D Front End Pipeline. Many folks told me this job and this vision would fail during the first 100+ conversations I had prior to moving to Japan.
So I created a subculture called "Program Pokéball" where we were building an inclusive global team of innovators from disciplines that were historically excluded from R&D to capture unmet needs from Japan and accelerate meaningful innovation.
Every couple days folks began to take pride in being part of Program Pokéball such as R&D Engineers, Global Strategic Marketing, Japanese Regional Sales Reps, Clinical affairs, IT, legal, and even external innovation partners.
We collectively knew the humble origin where we started as a team and magnitude of where we were pushing the business towards.
Little by Little we grew into a movement...
3. How to Be a Dirt Bag
We all know this person...
The "Conceited Fish"...
They have a special, shiny, rainbow scales that they flaunt every where they go.
When asked if they can share, they don't because they think they'd be less beautiful...
... but after loosing all their friends and talking to a wise octopus, they eventually learn how to share their gift humbly "one scale at a time"
Yes... this is from kids book "The Rainbow Fish" which I call the "Conceited Fish"
The reality is we all have had that coworker who seems self absorbs and flaunts their giftings with an arrogant amount of pride.
And while strategies for navigating those folks is likely another episode of Sunday Sips... these individuals cause us to reject our own pride and intrinsic sense of self worth because we never want folks to feel like they're in the presence of a conceited fish.
But calling on to Part 2 above... when we bury our Pride it prevents us from casting bold visions and robs others from the ability to partner with us "one beautiful scale at a time".
This fear of becoming a bag of dirt causes us to mask our beautiful scales with pond scum and seaweed.
But if you can anchor your giftings in a humble origin, it cleans the scales that you can share more boldly.
I promise... you're not a dirt bag ... and I actually doubt that anyone really is (again a discussion for another time).
Benediction:
So may you find a deep and beautiful sense of pride in the works of your hands...
A joyful abundance of gifting, rooted in humility that compel others around you to partner in your next bold vision...
And as always friend...
Keep Changing the World!
