My father taught me that selflessness is the key to a happy and fulfilling life, which has enabled me to build meaningful relationships and guided me as a business leader. This ideal of putting others before oneself has led me to the following thought: We as a society must surrender selfish ambition.
Notice how I say selfish ambition as opposed to ambition itself. It is normal to pursue things in life that make us feel good—for example, watching a show we love, spending time with friends and family, helping advocate for a colleague or business, pursuing good jobs and so on.
However, when the mindset becomes, “How can I get ahead of someone else? How can I get what I want no matter what, even if others lose?” or we have thoughts like, “As long as I win, I don’t really care what happens to the others,” that’s when we deceive ourselves into the smallness of our ethical compromises.
Selfish ambition damages one’s life and leads to several personal and social problems. Three major flaws stick out with selfish ambition.
- Selfish ambition impairs one’s ability to self-reflect.
I am reminded of a business deal that I completed a few years back. It was a supply/equipment company. At the time, I was focused on “chasing” and getting to a number of businesses or a certain size of global revenue. In my pursuit of growth, I overlooked many red flags—things like inventory turns, personnel, location, profitability by part, my partner in the deal—all for the sake of growth, thinking it “checked the box.” The choices I made were chasing and short-term and were all about my business growth. I not only put selfish ambition before normal disciplines but I also impaired my ability to make bigger business decisions.
- Selfish ambition limits one’s ability to trust.
Trust can come in many forms, and selfish ambition impacts it all. Maybe you are financially untrustworthy and refuse to help when you can. Maybe you cannot open up to others because you fear they are looking for personal gain. I stumble with trust when it has to do with time, empathy or mental and emotional energy. Regardless of how—whether financial selfishness or physical energy—selfish ambition significantly impacts all of our trust in others.
