Arrogance

I am rounding out my 7th year here at Secfi. I feel like I’ve worked 3 different jobs here during my time, and at a the same time, am always shocked at how fast these 7 years have gone. Besides our CEO and Co-Founder, I am now the longest standing employee of the company. As the say, the days are long but the years are short.

As I enter into my 8th year, one of the biggest things on top of my mind is keeping my arrogance in check. Being here for a long time means I’ve built up a lot of knowledge of the company, processes, and and history. I know what has worked and what has not worked in the past.

That’s a positive thing of course, but at the same time, it can breed a lot of arrogance. Admittedly that arrogance has come up many times this year. It’s not a good thing. We are still a small company and we need to keep a startup mentality going into things. For example, just because we’ve been doing one thing one way for years, does not mean it’s always the best way or can’t be improved.

Arrogance has ruined the careers of many people. As a college football fan, I’ve seen first hand when a star coordinator has moved up the ranks and gotten too arrogant which eventually led to their downfall. It’s important that I focus on keeping that in check so I don’t follow a similar fate in my career.