“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure”
– Mark Twain

When was the last time you read an article about a really successful individual not functioning as a rich person? Was it about the billionaires who wear the same clothes all the time? Or was it about how billionaires don’t spend like drunken sailors? How many of you think that this is all just plain bullshit? Or does this inspire you to be more like them? Some of us attribute their success to them being this ultra simple specimens. From what I have learned, some of these individuals were not the best people to be around before they achieved what they did. Which would mean money changed these people or they found out that acquiring humility gets them where they want to be!!

Let’s start with the illusion created by the media. I was going through a list of billionaires who are known to be humble AF. One of the names in there was Mr. Azim Premji, the owner of Wipro who is worth around 12 billion. The article thinks this guy is humble because Mr Premji is known to keep an eye on the number of toilet-paper rolls used in Wipro facilities. I am pretty sure that is not humility. That guy is a stingy SOB(Great respect for them stingies!). And this is exactly what I think is wrong with how those leaders are portrayed. When I was working for an IT firm back in Mumbai, I heard from everyone who worked there that the guy who owns the firm is a really humble person. And they backed this with ‘he never uses the lifts and uses the stairs instead’. Now that should not be a quality that determines humility but it totally does for them.

I think the bar set for billionaires in terms of being humane is too low. Anything a billionaire does that doesn’t mess the world up in some way is talked about as a kind deed when it is totally not. Billionaires in the past have made it easy for the new ones I guess. Which means that the perception that every individual is born with innate goodness doesn’t apply to the ones that are made of money. If someone is rich, what naturally comes to them is to go crazy and do things that makes headlines. Examples of craziness on two legs – Snoop Dogg, The Donald, The Biebs.

While going through a ton of articles for my leadership assignment on Steve Jobs I came across this article that was really compelling and resonated with some of my beliefs. The name of the article says it all – ‘We Love Humble Leaders But Idolize Narcissists‘. Pretty sure everyone felt a rush of blood when Justin Timberlake pushed the idea of a business card for Jessie Heisenberg that read I’m CEO, Bitch! on The Social Network.  That is exactly the point the article makes on how the society loves the humble leaders but adores the ones that are total jerks. Who didn’t love Ashton Kutcher being a total ass while depicting Jobs! One of Jobs’ famous insults to his employee was “You have made a really great cake but used dog shit to make the frosting”. That was the kind of assholery that Jobs was known for. But after he re-joined apple, he was a more empathetic leader. And I don’t think he ate “humble pie” after getting fired. He probably just realized that the way to go forward is to fake your way towards iPhones.

Great segway to the subject at hand. Humility is pressed upon most leaders or successful people. And studies on which kind of leadership (Humble or Arrogant) yields better results would always pick humility and hence the need for a change in behavior for some of these otherwise naturally aggressive individuals. Even though humility is is so highly rated, it is important to know that Sachin Tendulkar being the biggest names in Cricket, and who is known to be the simplest man alive was a shitty captain. And on the other hand, Virat Kohli who is known to be a big time douche is doing a great job at the helm. Kohli too is now expected to be a humble leader when he is totally not. But he will be and I think that is the reason arrogance has to be masked to be “liked” by the common masses.  Also, Anne Frank got it wrong when she quoted the following

Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.
– Anne Frank

Goodness is not the same as Greatness. They called Khali Great not because he healed injured wrestlers. It was because he smashed ’em skulls!