day 345: Sure Fire Trouble

Every company and organization has their own set of cultural norms, values and principles. After many years of being a student of human behavior at work, I would say that one of the signs of sure fire trouble is someone who is arrogant. I was reflecting on this the other day when I saw that they are bringing back the remake of the movie "Wall Street". Apparently, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) returns after 20 years in jail. He comes back, or so it is advertised, as repentant and reformed. Even in the "Bonfire of the Vanities" days on Wall Street (that was 1980 or the early 2000's?) even there it was arrogance to believe that one is above the law, that ultimately brought down many people. But even among the youngest and most junior in their careers, arrogance can create such a feeling of animosity among peers and co-workers that a person's career can be damaged even before it hardly starts. It is a fine line between confidence, which we all need to survive in the workplace, and arrogance. I strongly believe that the difference is many times found in someone's ability or inability to listen, be self-aware and take open feedback from others. The minute one stops listening to others, it means that arrogance has taken over. Even David talked about arrogance in Psalm 31:23; "Love the Lord, all you faithful ones! For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but he harshly punishes all who are arrogant." Yes, there is sure fire trouble coming if we become arrogant. Today would be a good day to consider what parts of our lives have we allowed an over-confidence to turn into an arrogance that needs to be metered and removed? Do we have areas where we have stopped listening to others and as such, may have lost perspective about ourselves? One of the best ways to know this is to reach out to the one who loves us the most and begin to go to Him with the request to open up our eyes and ears to others so that we can see and hear what we we need to know. The best way to keep from trouble is to remove the sure fire signs of trouble that are there, but we just keep missing!

Reference: Psalm 31:23 (New Living Testament)