While confidence is like Popeye's spinach to every entrepreneur, ego is the equivalent of kryptonite. Confidence is a must for boldly going out into the world and executing your plans and visions; but in order for confidence to work at its optimal level, it needs to be accompanied by humility.
Part of being a successful visionary is the ability to accept constructive criticism. Constructive criticism is a necessity to honing and fine tuning both vision and plan of execution. It is no secret that it's harder to see the bigger picture when you're at the nucleus of it all. Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes, or the expertise of someone who's been there before, to help guide you along the way. Few of us would turn away such wise counsel...unless of course said counsel points out what we are doing wrong.
Praise is good. We all need encouragement, but we also need the balance of honest assessments. Yes men come a dime a dozen, but finding someone who is willing to risk their relationship with you to tell you the honest truth, no matter how hard it is, is a rarity. The key to maximising relationships of that quality is to exercise humility. Without humility the ego runs wild, and it's been said that "pride, and not just summer, comes before the fall." I have seen many a talented visionary fall by the wayside tragically because they simply couldn't humble themselves enough to accept constructive criticism. The saddest comment I've ever heard made about an entrepreneur was that his/her product offering was amazing, his/her talent was undeniable, but that his/her ego was so big that he/she couldn't get out of his/her own way.
Don't let that be you. When you feel yourself flaring up because the assessment received wasn't all praise and worship, take a breath and exercise humility; your talent and future achievements will thank you.
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