My mother was my biggest critic. She knew and consistently pointed out my flaws and failures. In retrospect, I believe she did it so that I became aware of my flaws for me to grow stronger, and be a better person. In her own way, I believe she wanted me to learn humility.
Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect and I failed my mother because I grew weaker instead of stronger. My biggest flaw came in reaction to her attempt to teach me humility. As a result of her consistent criticism I become prideful. I became overconfident to hide my flaws. My mother's criticism of my flaws made me afraid and angry. It made me want to be isolated from others and made me not want to ask for help in fear of being criticized.
The opposite of humility is pride. Pride can be helpful but also become a huge flaw and hinderance to becoming successful. When a Sophisticate lacks humility she thinks and believes she can do everything herself and doesn't need help from anyone.
In reality, no one on this earth who was ever successful accomplished or achieved anything by themselves.
relate to others was because of the position of her body. Whenever she would talk to people she made sure she would be able to look them in the eye. When necessary she lowered herself to their height to allow for trust. In essence, she lowered herself so that she would be equal to them physically and emotionally.
Learning about humility and understanding what it means are two different things. Experience teaches a Sophisticate the lesson of humility. Humility is taught when a Sophisticate has to depend on other people during times in her life when the world presents her with a task so impossible it requires more than what she knows or can do herself.
All tasks in life all are impossible and require at the least two people.
In the presence of social media and technology, people talk about the willingness to be vulnerable. Vulnerability only goes so far. Vulnerability goes half way by saying, "I'm not perfect." Humility completes the journey to success and perfection by saying, "I'm not perfect, but together we are"
When reflecting on my two idols Walt Disney, who had the help of his brother Roy and Gabrielle Chanel, who had the support of Arthur "Boy" Chapel, it turned my attention to business. The idea that humility is the basis for every business.
No business can exist without people to buy and "buy into" their product or service. Businesses depend on people. They depend on stockholders to invest and support, customers and clients to buy or buy into their deliverable, and finally, people to run the operations. Without humility, a business or a corporation doesn't exist.
Humility is the key to a successful business.
Whether it be with providing the customer with a quality product, or providing employees with support, a business depends on customers and employees. They need a team of people working together to achieve a quality product for a customer.
A successful company and team cannot execute unless the skills and knowledge base of each individual is respected. Respect cannot be given unless a Sophisticate understands that another person's knowledge or skill base is essential to achieving a common goal.
Emily Bronte once said "Proud people breed sad sorrows" Although pride is important to provide a Sophisticate the confidence to be self-sufficient, without knowing she needs help, a Sophisticate will fail.