A Little Humility Goes a Long Way
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 by Frank RocheWriting is an exercise in humility. The only way for it to be good is if it’s 100 percent right. Blogging? Multiply it times 100, because people can say some pretty tough things.
Two days ago we were celebrating KnowHR’s selection as one of HR World’s Top 25 HR Influencers for 2007. We got this comment today:
Hey,
You should watch out for browser compatibility for your blog. It looks so ugly in IE7.
Zoiks! “Ugly” is such an ugly word.
A Little Humility Goes a Long Way
I’ll learn my lesson about hubris as soon as I fly a little closer to the sun. As a reference, I’ll take under advisement the words of Sir Edmund Hillary, who died this week after 88 great years and was the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest [via CNN]:
“Awe, wonder, humility, pride, exaltation — these surely ought to be the confused emotions of the first men to stand on the highest peak on Earth, after so many others had failed,” Hillary noted.
“But my dominant reactions were relief and surprise. Relief because the long grind was over and the unattainable had been attained. And surprise, because it had happened to me, old Ed Hillary, the beekeeper, once the star pupil of the Tuakau District School, but no great shakes at Auckland Grammar [high school] and a no-hoper at university, first to the top of Everest. I just didn’t believe it.
What’s Humility Have to Do with HR?
That’s a joke, right?
John Windsor
Jan 11th, 2008
Wonderful post, Frank. Thanks!
Frank Roche
Jan 11th, 2008
Thanks, John. And “you wuz robbed” on that vote…you won. I see they may be adjusting the report. WTG.
rick
Jan 11th, 2008
Hillary is a great example of not being able to predict where life’s travels will take you.
Humility is a great thing. one can be proud of their acheivemnts and humble at the same time. I think that is part of the definition of mench.
I was wondering why their were “unsitely” lines. I am too technologically ignorant to know that it was the browser. Funny thing is that I share a name with a guy in my company’s IT department. That’s irony of a large magnitude.
Robyn
Jan 11th, 2008
Quite frankly, every time I visit I can see why you merit the HR award. This post is proof in the pudding. People like to deal with folks who are humble, not “know-it-alls.”
Besides, I find your new banner vibrant. Art is a matter of individual taste.
robert edward cenek
Jan 11th, 2008
Congratulations Frank! Your recognition is well deserved. the IE7 comment is probably sour grapes from another blogger!
Frank Roche
Jan 12th, 2008
Rick, I’m working on cleaning up the CSS and making the site XHTML compliant. But it’s a headache. Still, I want it to look good. And yep, something about a little humility. Nothing wrong with being good and being confident, but there’s also greatness in knowing about hard work and looking like you’ve been there.
Robyn, thanks so much. That’s very kind. I try to keep my head in it.
Robert, thank you! LOL…it’s funny when people who have never commented, like that guy, start out on a touch note. But I’m trying to make it look better…I’m on a Mac, so it’s a little tougher to parse out all the different operating systems.