Think of pride as poison…

Think of pride as poison.

Pride is not self respect, nor is it a source of self esteem. Pride, as I reminded a couple clients this morning, is the most deadly of the 7 Deadly Sins because it’s poisonous. Study history, don’t believe me. Study the Greek tragedies. Study the scriptures. Study American history. Study the history of England and of France. Study Rome and study Russia. Study Enron. Study Worldcom. Study Tyco and Study GM. Study CompuServe and study your company. You will see the that pride is poison. And, you will see how rapidly this poision spreads beyond the confines of the person that took the bait.

Think of pride as poison.

Pride is a poison that doesn’t come with a warning label. Pride sneeks up on us in the form of a harmless fourth drink, a slightly larger bet, and a confident attitude that, ever so slightly, crosses the line.

Think of pride as your poison.

You see, it is easy to see pride as a problem for the Roman Empire. It’s not a stretch to see how pride brought down Enron and other corporations. The real problem, however, is personal. The real poison is the one you are currently sipping on and believing you can handle. The real poison is the one you are flirting with and thinking it’s harmless. The real poison is the one you are kinda enjoying even though you know you shouldn’t. Pride is a poison that doesn’t come with a warning label.

And, the real problem is that you are mostly blind to your pride. You, most likely, have built the wrong WALLS. If you are a normal, mature, adult, you have walled yourself off from truth tellers that could illuminate your blindspot, instead of walling yourself off from your pride. You have over focused on your reputation and forgotten your character. You are building the wrong WALLS.

Today a couple really cool clients of mine put a few more specific bricks in their humility wall. They practiced being vulnerable with me and together we put the beginnings of a fortress between them and their poison, pride.

Think of pride as your poison. Are you building the right kinda walls? Who is helping you build  your humility wall?

Tell me more, my friend.

Actually, tell your  truth teller more..