Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT
Senior Member
Username: rliebing
Post Number: 1066
Registered: 02-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - 10:03 am: |    |
090930
ARROGANCE AND COMPLACENCY
by Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT
Cincinnati, OH
Any discussion of these two words and attributes smacks of the one regarding the chicken and the egg. Do you become arrogant because you’re complacent; or vice versa? I don’t know.
I do know that as arrogance arrives and increases, effort is reduced-- you simply stop trying, because in your mind you’ve done it all, and very well! Then merely turn to sitting back with a big grin on your face, and you slowly wallow further and further into complacency!
It ain’t a pretty picture!
Ever notice how professional athletes lobby and lobby for a big, multi- year contract-- big bucks for a long term, based on what WAS done [not what will be or could be done]. Even as the new contract begins [yep, that early] and progresses, the arrogance of asking for more money for yesteryear performance or more equity, and the complacency of getting one’s way, results in, 1] a lesser effort [simply human nature], 2] a more detached approach, 3] the lack of a true, “hungry” drive to excel, 4] more injuries [usually minor but plaguing and little impetus to play hurt], and 5] more irritability [fewer interview, personal appearances, autographs to kids, and the nicer qualities that had been there.
Self-satisfaction, self-declared smug achievement and success are unbecoming in any situation and really fallacious in regard to the truth of the person or situation. You or nothing is ever so “good” that some improvement, in some way, is impossible! Few ever reach the level of 100% perfection-- done it all well. Now remember one who is 100% wrong, all the time, is also “perfect” [let’s just say dubiously perfect].
The trail of life is always a matter of ups and downs; of another hill beyond the one just topped. A matter of striving to reach new levels, new goals, or new status! Those quests never stop-- unless the “stop signs” of arrogance and complacency come to be; and grandma’s old “rot and ruin” set in. Too much idle time and too much money lead to…….well, let’s just say unsavory things! Nothing to be proud of without a desire!
Every person, from small child to elder adult, and every organization, company, firm, partnership, corporation, etc., ALWAYS needs to be in a movement mode-- looking for newness, things never done before, new opportunities, new friends and associates, new directions, efforts and achievement, products, and accomplishments. The search is endless, as are the opportunities—and the rewards. Being better; doing more; and broadening horizons are worthy and noble tasks; we should do more, and still continue to look for even more. We can be both better and bigger, and more positively influential, industry wide!
You have to wonder what ever happened to the “Little Engine That Could” [“I think I can; I think I can…..” remember?]. What happened after the last page of the story when the Engine reached the top of the hill? SEE!!!!! If you don’t keep going, and trying, and throw off arrogance and complacency, you just disappear [like the Little Engine!]. Disappearance and reclusion beget irrelevance, disdain and loss of credence. We all, individuals and organizations alike need to avoid these consequences!
Stoic, in-depth analysis and visionary planning are well and good. But it takes the fear of complacency and arrogance to overcome the inertia so easily created. What is needed is a View/Plan/DO! attitude! We are too easily plagued by arrogance and complacency [and some pompousness!], but the greater “plague” is doing nothing, and not even thinking about what to do! We have to keep chuggin’ along!
I think we can! I think we can ! I think we can………… I KNOW we can! Don’t you? |
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