Humility in my life

I was watching Joe Dummars speaking about his career as a player and now as an executive with the Detroit Pistons. During a largely interesting presentation , one point that stuck to me the most was how Joe's father used to tell him to be firmly on the ground and show humility despite his many achievements. This is a value that I had lived all through my life , thanks again to my parents , who despite their rise in economic stature and their kids being the first to make it to the best undergrad universities in India amongst the family , made sure that we didn't get over board with the achievements.

Coming from a traditional South Indian Brahman family , an emphasis on education and getting a government job were always stressed up on in my family , so much so that people thought good colleges were out of reach for us. My parents however encouraged me to think big which was just the motivation I needed. After getting into BITS-Pilani, one of the best universities in India , the first advise my mother gave me was to go out share the news and enjoy an evening with my friends. I didn't understand why she was stressing on that but I realized it's importance only after I met my friends and some family members. They were all of the idea that the success would have made me a different person. But I was able to clear off their apprehensions and make them feel better. It was my first lesson in humility.

In my professional life, I have had my fair share of success and encountered the challenges that I faced 10 years ago - making sure that people realize that I am still the same person. Reaching out to them resulted in friends for a life time. People trust me a lot now and believe that my core values and I remain the same even to this day and way into the future.

One of the values I would strive to add to any place , organization or person that I encounter is humility because irrespective of the amount of success we achieve or the prestige , position or power it is who we are that defines us in the society. For me, Humility is at the core of that definition.