Interesting article here from BusinessWeek.com titled Talent and “Humbition” that discusses a common problem with hiring superstars – they tend to have a me-first mentality. Part of that mentality is what makes them successful, but there are stars out there who approach their work with a humbleness that is inspiring.
Here is a good point in regards to this approach:
First, to CEOs, HR directors, and the founders of startups: The best-run companies I know are indeed obsessed with filling their companies with great people. But they also believe that recruiting stars doesn’t mean succumbing to a me-first star system. They understand that what it means to be great is as much about values as virtuosity, as much about what makes people tick as what they know. Call it the character of competition—the relationship between a company’s identity in the marketplace and the sense of identity that people bring to the workplace. Winning the war for talent doesn’t mean lavishing big stock-option packages on every self-impressed MBA or Java programmer you meet.
And now the definition of humbition:
What’s humbition? It’s a term I first heard from Jane Harper, a nearly 30-year veteran of IBM. It is, she explains, the subtle blend of humility and ambition that drives the most successful leaders—an antidote to the know-it-all hubris that affects so many business stars. “The more I know,” she says sensibly, “the more I know there is to know.”
We have seen these types of salespeople before, but they are somewhat difficult to find. In sales, we often encounter a certain swagger amongst the highly successful salespeople. Some swagger is ok, maybe even helpful. ONLY some. We have encountered salespeople who were highly successful, but their swagger had grown into arrogance. More times than not, these salespeople crossed a line that led to their dismissal.