How can I learn to feel less superior and arrogant towards others?

Answer 2: Watch this video where Ayn Rand demonstrates how ugly arrogance and superiority can sound.

In this interview with Phil Donahue back in the 1980s, Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, would have probably described herself as “confident”, but for many of us watching her, she comes across as just plain arrogant. Watching her in these videos, especially when she answers questions from the audience, might be a wake-up call to anyone who worries they might rub others up the wrong way with their superior, arrogant delivery style!

How can I learn to feel less superior and arrogant towards others?

Answer 1: Read this persuasive piece on why humility is so appealing by Clayton Christensen.


Remember the Importance of Humility

I got this insight when I was asked to teach a class on humility at Harvard College. I asked all the students to describe the most humble person they knew. One characteristic of these humble people stood out: They had a high level of self-esteem. They knew who they were, and they felt good about who they were. We also decided that humility was defined not by self-deprecating behavior or attitudes but by the esteem with which you regard others. Good behavior flows naturally from that kind of humility. For example, you would never steal from someone, because you respect that person too much. You’d never lie to someone, either.

It’s crucial to take a sense of humility into the world. By the time you make it to a top graduate school, almost all your learning has come from people who are smarter and more experienced than you: parents, teachers, bosses. But once you’ve finished at Harvard Business School or any other top academic institution, the vast majority of people you’ll interact with on a day-to-day basis may not be smarter than you. And if your attitude is that only smarter people have something to teach you, your learning opportunities will be very limited. But if you have a humble eagerness to learn something from everybody, your learning opportunities will be unlimited. Generally, you can be humble only if you feel really good about yourself—and you want to help those around you feel really good about themselves, too. When we see people acting in an abusive, arrogant, or demeaning manner toward others, their behavior almost always is a symptom of their lack of self-esteem. They need to put someone else down to feel good about themselves.


from How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen. Click here to read the whole essay–you won’t regret it!

Answer 2: Watch this short video by Richard Feynman, Nobel prize winning physicist, on why he found his Nobel prize and the elitist groups he had belonged to to be a pain in the arse: