Is Your Ego Big Enough for Greatness?

Quesiton of the day: Do people need massive egos to be great?  Not successful, mind you, but great.  I’m talking best-in-show, blow-our-minds, once-in-a-generation great.

Kanye West and Simon Cowell would say yes.

Beyonce and Warren Buffet might disagree.

Bill Gates might also disagree (though I think he would be lying)

I bring this up because I watched Man on Wire last night, the documentary about the French Guy who walked on a wire between the World Trade Towers in 1974.  Watching the film (which was excellent) I couldn’t get over how self-centered the wire walker, Philippe Petit, was and still is today.

He views himself as a visionary, a poet, an artist on par with the great Renaissance painters.  He believes that he gave the world a gift when he walked across his wire.  Furthermore, when he cheated on his girlfriend right after his stunt, he claimed it was justified because "pleasure of the flesh" was what the moment demanded.

The guy has ego for miles…and he needed every inch to turn his audacious and impossible dream into reality. 

Before watching Wire last night, I watched Simon Cowell implore contestants on American Idol to get cockier on-stage.  During the NBA dunk contest last weekend, I heard Kenny Smith say that LeBron James will never be as good as Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant because LBJ isn’t compelled to show world that he’s better than everybody else at everything, which is what is takes to become a legend.

So, I put the question to you: Is there such a thing as a humble legend?  More specifically, who (among the living) would qualify as such? 

(Note: Actors don’t count because, for all we know, they could just be acting humble.)
 

Comments

[Don Hulsey]

Seriously, Jack Morgan was one of the most generous people I have read about (the son of JP Morgan). He ran his bank during the great depression giving millions of dollars to the city, chairity and people in need. He was one of the wealthiest men on wall street while running his fathers company and did so with a lot of empathy and generosity helping his company employees be hard working, but a fun bank to work at. It is another example that leaders can be successful (even during even during bad times) by helping to promote others to success.
Don Hulsey