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According to recent statistics by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 50% of new businesses fail within their fifth year of operation. Of course, this failure doesn’t happen in a day or two. It happens gradually with several contributing factors. One of these factors is pride and ego.
Pride is a great quality to have in business. It can help motivate you, make you more confident, and allow you to set goals for yourself. However, pride can also cause problems in the workplace if it becomes too much. If your ego is getting in the way of success or stability at work, here are some ways that may be happening:
Ego Can Keep You from Networking With Others
One of the best ways to make connections in business is by networking. Networking can be as simple as being open and friendly with people, or you could go to a local business networking event and meet new people face-to-face.
However, your ego and pride can get in the way of your networking. People will think you’re unapproachable and will avoid interacting with you. This could lead to you losing potential clients and business opportunities.
HubSpot studies suggest that U.S. businesses lose over $1.8 trillion every year because of loss of productivity. Some of this loss comes from a disconnect between the employees and their employers.
Pride and ego are often found to be the leading causes behind this disconnect. Thus, not only does this characteristic affect networking outside the business, but it also impacts internal networking, especially between an employer and their employee.
Your Ego May Cause You to Make Bad Business Decisions
Meta, the now parent company of Facebook, suffered losses of over $2 billion recently over their Metaverse project. One would say that the Metaverse was a business decision that went wrong. Many will also point out how the company’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and his ego played a vital role here.
His belief that virtual reality was bigger and more impactful than real-life interaction backfired. The fact that he wanted people to head back to their rooms and connect once again after the COVID-19 pandemic started settling down is also something to ponder over.
Your ego can often cause you to make bad business decisions. If you are too focused on your own success, you may not listen to others’ opinions or be open to change. You may also find it difficult to admit when you are wrong, which is important in any successful business venture.
Pride is a Key to Sabotaging Relationships and Losing Customers
If you are too prideful, your decisions may be skewed. You might think they’re the best possible choices and ignore the advice of others. However, if you were more open to considering other options, you would have a better chance of making informed choices that lead to success.
Pride can also cause you to lose customers or clients because it prevents you from admitting when something is wrong or apologizing for a mistake. In addition, pride sometimes leads people who are too proud of their accomplishments and abilities to take joy in tearing down others instead of building them up.
As a tool for sabotage, Christianity has often condemned pride and too much ego. That’s why devoted Christian business people keep away from it as much as possible. It’s a quality that everyone in the business world should appreciate and try to incorporate into their daily lives.
You can learn more about why pride is condemned in Christianity by reading the Book of James. There’s a lot to learn here, and all of it will be for your own good and the good of your business.
You Might Lose the Opportunity to Learn from Your Mistakes
If you’re too proud to admit your mistake, you might find yourself struggling to learn from it. You might not get the chance to ask for help from others or take the time to make sure that you understand what happened and why.
Since pride is often tied with a sense of superiority, being wrong can be an especially difficult pill to swallow. However, this is something many successful people have learned over time. Asking for help doesn’t mean they’re weak. It means they’re willing and able to grow their business skills by learning from others’ expertise.
Pride May Blind You to the Need for Change or Improvement
Pride can lead to a feeling of superiority and the frequent assumption that you are better than others. When this happens, it’s very easy to think that you don’t need to change or improve in any way. You may even begin to believe that what you have achieved is good enough, even though it might not be.
This could lead to complacency and stagnation in your career as well as hinder your ability to grow as an entrepreneur. As such, pride can become a barrier between success and failure for entrepreneurs.
Your Company May Become Stagnant
Pride leads to stagnation. Let’s say you have a thriving business with a loyal customer base, but your pride gets in the way of innovation. You won’t change or update your products or services because doing so would make you look less than perfect. Your company will become stagnant and will no longer be relevant in the market.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that pride can be a powerful tool for success. However, it can also lead to your downfall if you let it get out of control. In business, there will always be someone more successful than you are and someone who needs help more than you do. It is up to each one of us how we deal with those situations – whether we will learn from them or just keep repeating our mistakes.
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