“I’m honoured to be presented with this award for BLANK. And I just happen to have this flattering photo of myself dressed immaculately, gazing to the heavens to share with you.” And then the person may throw in a motivational quote in an effort to elevate themselves to the accomplishments of Neil Armstrong.
Do you remember when we used to call this bragging? Kids still call it bragging because their innocence favours transparency.
When we had real-life friendships instead of friends, contacts, connections and followers, it was our real-life friends who would share our achievements because they were proud of us. Today, we take it upon ourselves to promote our favourite topic – ourselves – so everyone can learn about how wonderful we are as colleagues, employees and influencers.
I’ve never liked vanity because it seemed so lazy. It takes very little talent or character to be vain. Humility, now that requires both talent and character. And, I don’t think that I’m alone on this; we can smell vanity when we see it.
It’s wonderful that some of us reach for the stars in our careers, it just seems a little disappointing that LinkedIn is becoming a stream of self-aggrandisement.
High achievers like the NASA astronauts often appear at conventions selling autographed merchandise or charging fans to have their picture taken with them. Jim Lovell would charge $25 per handwritten word – and he didn’t even set foot on the moon. “Houston, we have a problem.” would cost you $125 – punctuation was free. Commerce and vanity trumps class even for mighty achievers, I suppose.
Interestingly, the only astronaut who shunned such events was Neil Armstrong.
