Axiom 75: Arrogance Kills Success

"In hindsight I slid into arrogance based on past success." 

-Reed Hastings

“No man knows less than the man who knows it all." -Unknown

I've been in business long enough to see how arrogance can ruin people. People get so full of themselves that they fail to see the world how it really is. Don't let arrogance get in the way of your success.

I've hired people over the years that were smart, talented, and full of potential only to find out that they were so arrogant they were useless to me. You can't train an arrogant person. The best thing is to avoid hiring arrogant people in the first place.

Here's the problem with working with arrogant people: You can't get them to follow instructions. You can tell them how to solve a problem but they usually decide to solve it a totally different way. They often ignore the experience of their manager in favor of making decisions on their gut instinct. This usually ends in disaster. 

I've dealt with arrogant suppliers that work for arrogant companies also. They think they have the best product, or that their product is the only option I can purchase. Their service sucks because they are so arrogant and they act it like it is an honor to do business with them.

These arrogant companies always fail. A patent runs out on their exclusive product, or another less arrogant company finds a better way to service the market. I've had many calls from suppliers that were once arrogant but now beg for my business because their sales are down.

Arrogance always ends in defeat. You're not the smartest person around. You do not work for the best company ever. You do not sell the best products ever, Don't let everything go to your head.

Axiom 74: Don't Play the Gossip Game

"Gossip is the Devil's radio." -George Harrison

"Everyone notices everyone else's problems but never pay attention to their own." 
-Jerett Parker

If you're consumed with what someone else is doing then you are not focused on yourself and your own goals. Obsessing over the faults of others will only blind you to your own. You must find a way to ignore what everyone else is doing and concentrate on yourself.

I know this is easier said than done. Playing the gossip game can be fun, but it will eventually backfire on you. Pull back and resist the urge to join in. Isolate yourself if you must and make sure your mind is where it really needs to be, on yourself. 

In business we become consumed with what our competition is doing. Sometimes unknowingly we start to think just because our competition is doing something that we need to follow suit and do the same. This is often insanity. Don't copy your competitor's moves. Forge your own path. This is why it is so important to ignore what others are doing. Otherwise you'll drag yourself into an alternate world where you start to second guess all of your decisions... or even worse, you'll develop a twisted ego based on comparing yourself to others. 

Axiom 73: Don't Burn Bridges

"Don't burn bridges. You'll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river." 
-Unknown

At some point someone will do you wrong. The urge to burn a bridge will enter your mind. Should you or shouldn't you? That is the question....

You must never let your emotions get the best of you. Burning a bridge will almost always do more harm than good. It might make you feel better momentarily to express your true feelings but in the long run you will probably regret it.

For one, you might need to cross that bridge again. This is a small world and you'd be surprised how you may need the same people again for some reason.

Secondly, by burning a bridge you are really admitting "losing" not "winning". You are admitting defeat in a very classless and crude way. The best way to exact revenge is by going out and proving things wrong by your own success.

Thirdly, the people at the receiving end of your bridge burning rant could really give a shit less about you. You think you're poetically putting people in their place and showing them the error of their ways. In reality they could probably care less and are just happy now you are gone.

Use that fuel that you would burn a bridge as motivation for success. Instead of burning that bridge, write down those negative thoughts on paper. Hold onto them for a few days a then revisit them. You will then probably realized how immature and useless burning a bridge can be.