The story of Pip in Great Expectations is the story of most who desire to rise above a humble beginnings. Often motivated by ambitions that become increasingly selfish, driving one to succeed, only to find that upon realising success a lack of fulfillment which may cause one to become despondent at the realisation of the vanity that these distorted values bring.

Most boards and organisational hiring practices operate under the assumption that they need to hire a larger than life, egocentric and ambitious leaders to help their organisation to rise above their humble beginnings or break through to greater growth.

Unfortunately, if we as leaders blindly let our ambitions drive our career we may end up with distorted selfish ambition and character flaws that ultimately hinder our progress. As leaders we are responsible to ensure that our ambitions are tempered and driven by a desire to see others and our organisations succeed, not for ones’ own success at the cost of others.

Failing to temper our ambitions we can unintentionally create a culture of fear. This culture of fear encourages 4 distortions of ambition:
1 Dangerous Ambition - steal others ideas and manipulate facts that may harm or injure others to self promote.
2 Frustrated Ambition - moving from job to job because of an annoyance at not achieving recognition or promotion, saying, 'I am better than this current position'. Everything is focused around serving your own need.
3 Manipulative Ambition - Becoming so narcissistic that one asserts unscrupulous control of a person or situation so as to benefit self only.
4 Impatient Ambition - Becoming quickly irritated at situations or people that seem to block or impede our promotion. Therefore, one tries to make things happen through aggression and manipulation.

IBM discovered that the most effective leaders exude a unique blend of humility and ambition, and developed a word to describe this strange blend of humility and ambition - humbition. Humbition drives the most influential leaders and innovators in organisations.

Humbitious leaders are passionate about organisational growth and cultures free from the fear of being overlooked. They encourage and empower others to be imaginative and creative, attributes which are essential if any individual or organisation wishes to remain relevant and profitable.

At Joseph Consulting we are passionate about organisational growth, and empowering leaders so they can make the most of their situations. Please call Joseph Consulting if you would like to discuss how we might provide you specific leadership coaching for you or your teams.

Rob Boynton
Leadership | Business Consultant
Joseph Consulting