July 7, 2008

Ego - Let It Go

Before starting, I would confess that I am an egoist to a certain extent; and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why I am writing this article. I recently joined MBA study and very first lecture was on eliminating ego and open one’s mind to learn new things.

On very next day, I went to have tea with my friend. Suddenly we met one of my colleagues at the tea stall. As we continued chatting with her, she mentioned about her experience about ego. She was one of the committee members in selecting candidates in recruitment process. She came across a person used to say “I know” through out his interview. She suggested not selecting that person. Due to his extra ordinary records that guy managed to get the job in his hand. On joining the corporate, that guy was put in a training to have understanding of application he needed to work upon. But again his ego played a negative role. His trainers faced a lot of problems to train him; and in the end, they raised their hands. She concluded with a nice statement that I can never forget in my life “Until and unless you open your mind to learn, you can’t be a trainable material.”

I observed in my class where I sit among managers of various companies specialized in several sectors. I found a “Superiority Complex” in few of them. That thing may lead them to achieve success in their fields; but eventually prevents them to be liked. A “Bossy” behavior comes out as a result. Sometimes I myself act very rigidly due to my ego. There are cases where I involved in a tussle with my senior as I never tried to understand his suggestions that opposed my approaches. I later on feel that he was right; but my ego did not let me understand that.

Ego leads to a mental condition where you assume others to take all you say as granted. And that creates a distance between you and others who are closed to you. I learned only one principle - “I” is always capital and alone.