The businessman then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish? The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The businessman then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time? The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Priya, stroll into the village each evening where I sip tea and play with my kids; I have a full and busy life, sir,”

The businessman scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA, and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats; eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor and eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to City, where you would run your expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But sir, how long will this all take?” To which the businessman replied, “15-20 years.” “But what then, sir?” The businessman laughed and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.” “Informal question sir? Then what?” The businessman said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip tea and spend time with your family members and friends.”

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?”

Simple life well lived will give you happiness, reinforcing the value of life and reaffirming the pursuit of happiness.

CEOs are conveyed as all-powerful celebrities, and startup entrepreneurs are being given John Wayne-like hero treatment.

It’s no surprise then that many are showing signs of a fatal flaw: acting without humility.

I’d argue we’re entering an era where outsized egos are a warning sign of impending failure. Fail to keep yours in check and the only thing you’ll be leading is the search for a new job.

We’re seeing signals of this all around us.

For most of her career, Carol Bartz’s strong suit certainly wasn’t her humility, and Yahoo’s shareholders can attest to the result of that. Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s ego (and questionable morals) reportedly gave him a sense of invincibility, which cost DSK the French Presidency and any potential legacy.Hewlett-Packard had a fabulous CEO in Mark Hurd, until he resigned in what HP’s own general counsel called a, “profound lack of judgment that seriously undermined his credibility and damaged his effectiveness.”

While on a much different scale, startup CEOs and entrepreneurs are among the most ego-fueled leaders. In fact, I’d argue that today’s easy-to-get-funding and it’s-cool-to-be-a-CEO economy is actually fostering a sense of grandiosity that will eventually be the majority’s undoing. In NYC alone there are now dozens of incubators – from DreamIt to Tipping Point Partners and Betaworks and Startl – making it easy to leave your day job and become a startup CEO in seconds. Sites like Angel List are making it all too easy to become an investor or the invested. Even the awesome entrepreneur and investor, Naval Ravikant is being given the “you’re-amazing, just-add-water-to-grow-your-ego” treatment in this NY Times piece.

Dave Balter
Founder/CEO of BzzAgent

I recently returned from San Francisco where I saw at least a dozen startups, each with more than 20,000 square feet of space for fewer than 40 employees. “We’re going to grow fast,” their effusive leaders – fresh with cash – would boast.

But if the funded and funders don’t change something fast, the end is nigh.

And it’s not the money that’s the issue. It’s the hubris that comes with it.

I know of what I speak because I had my own great press, easy money and 22,000 square feet (to be exact) –and the ego that came with it nearly cost me my fourth startup, BzzAgent. Launched in 2001, by 2005 we were featured in a cover story in The New York Times Magazine and had A-list angel and venture investors. We were arguably the first company to monetize social media, with a network of volunteer consumers who shared their opinions with peers about products and services. We had real revenues and the best clients.

We. Were. Awesome.

But all of that led us to ignore the fundamental necessity of humility. One of the defining moments of the business came in late 2005 when a young buck showed up at our office and asked for a job. After a discussion, we politely declined with a “nice try, kid” and sent him on his way. He returned a few months later to thank us for chatting with him, and to let us know that he had taken a job at this thing called Facebook, which had 50,000 members (compared to our then 250,000) and no revenue model – and he’d be the 12th employee. I’ll never forget us laughing about the silly premise of Facebook after he left.

He eventually was a bigwig with Facebook’s East Coast sales and someone I had to call to “kiss the ring” if we wanted to get things done with Facebook (and his boss was a guy I used to hawk t-shirts to in the entertainment industry, no less). My ego made me underestimate them until they changed BzzAgent’s business forever.

“I’d argue that today’s easy-to-get-funding and it’s-cool-to-be-a-CEO economy is actually fostering a sense of grandiosity that will eventually be the majority’s undoing.”

This being just one story of our outsized egos, we had to learn our lessons the hard way.

By 2009, we had to cut nearly 50% of our staff and we spent the better part of a year reconsidering our business. I personally began the process of learning humility. I learned to listen more—to colleagues, friends, prospective employees, family. I was forced to trust my peers. I paid close attention to competitors and became thankful for every day we were fortunate enough to be running our business. We eventually turned things around, rebuilt and sold the company earlier this year for a sizeable return to a unit of TESCO PLC.

But only because we stopped acting like the press and funding made us more valuable than we actually were.

And that’s the lesson every single CEO, entrepreneur and leader needs to learn now. It’s never too early to start acting with the humility that can make you smarter—and save your business. This is one reason I helped develop The Humility Imperative project, a mashup of art and the collected stories of humble and ego-fueled leaders. If just one or two entrepreneurs learn this lesson before it’s too late, then we’ll consider this a success.

As for Carol Bartz, head of Yahoo until last week, some see her last email to Yahoo employees—“I’ve just been fired” — as an overly emotional and career-killing admission, but I see something different. I see someone who found humility and didn’t spin the facts into a mutual parting of ways. She was fired and she said as much, which is about as humble as you can get.

• First, some historical analysis:

1. The debt limit, or ceiling, is the amount of money the US is permitted to borrow and is a commitment the US has already made—i.e., budget bills already passed by Congress, Social Security checks promised to retirees, payments due to private companies with federal contracts, interest on the national debt (in the form of bonds), etc.  Washington has long spent more money than it takes in and plans always to make up the difference in borrowing.  Increasing this debt ceiling is mandatory for the government to pay for existing obligations.  In short, the US debt reflects previously enacted tax and spending policies of the US Congress.  [Over the years, raising the debt ceiling has been somewhat controversial, but never like this.  (When President Obama was in the Senate, for example, he voted against raising the debt ceiling during the presidency of George W. Bush.)]
2. This debt ceiling system goes back to World War I, when Congress first placed a limit on federal debt, in part to allow the Treasury to issue Liberty Bonds to help pay for the First World War.  It was to eliminate the need for Congress to approve each issuance of new bonds by the Treasury Department.  Over the years, this ceiling has been raised to its current $14.3 trillion from roughly $40 billion in 1940.
3. How did the US get $14.3 trillion of debt?  Before President Reagan in the 1980s, the total debt from wars and economic downturns was about $1 trillion.  During Reagan’s presidency the debt increased $1.9 trillion.  The presidencies of G.H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton each added about $1.5 trillion.  But it was the presidency of George W. Bush (2001-2009) that added $6.1 trillion (due to tax cuts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economic downturn in 2001 and the financial catastrophe that began in 2007).  President Obama has already added $2.4 trillion to the debt.  So, in just the last decade the debt has swelled by over $8.5 trillion!!
4. Who holds the US debt?  The US public holds $3.6 trillion (individuals, corporations, banks, pensions and mutual funds).  Nations:  China ($1.2 trillion), Japan (.9 trillion), Britain (.3 trillion), others ($2.1 trillion).  The US government itself (the Federal Reserve System, as collateral for US currency and a store of liquidity for emergency needs) holds $1.6 trillion.  The Social Security Trust fund (surpluses generated by the program that have been invested in US government bonds) holds $2.7 trillion.  Other US government trust funds hold another $1.9 trillion.
5. The US has not always operated with this much debt.  After World War II, in which the US did accumulate debt to fight the war, the US debt remained stable for over 25 years, going from $242 billion in 1946 to $283 billion by 1970.  But the debt has increased since then under every president, with the largest by far being under George W. Bush.  He cut taxes, fought two wars and added the drug benefit program to Medicare without adding any revenue to pay for it.  He made it clear that it would be funded by debt!  As the debt has grown, so have interest payments.  In 2003, the government paid $150 billion in interest payments.  This year it is estimated to be over $200 billion.  These interest payments are taking up more federal spending than federal outlays on education, transportation, and housing combined.  Nonetheless, low interest rates have helped keep the interest payments lower than expected, but as the economy recovers and as interest rates go up, so will the cost to the US government of its debt!

• Second, the US is not alone in this debt crisis.  It is a part of every major developed nation and represents the demise of the old order of things.  Constructed after World War II, this old order, economist Robert Samuelson argues, rested on three pillars:  the welfare state, a strong faith in economic growth and the expansion of global trade and finance that benefited everyone.  All three of these pillars are wobbling.  The welfare state is the most obvious.  With aging populations, government spending as a part of GDP is becoming unsustainable.  In addition, strong economic growth, which could help all developed nations afford their welfare states, is a mirage.  Conventional policy approaches to grow the economies of the developed world are failing.  In the US the Federal Reserve has held interest rates artificially low but it has not helped.  Hence, budget deficits are high and growing.  Fear of default among the developed nations is real (e.g., Greece, Portugal, Ireland, etc.).  The recent debt ceiling crisis in the US was a further symptom of the problem.  Austerity, out of necessity, is the pattern in the developed world but this likewise produces a huge drag on the world economy.  But China frustrates the possibility of worldwide economic expansion by keeping its currency artificially low as a means of subsidizing its exports and sustaining its large trade surpluses.  Hence, the foundation of the global trading system is at risk.  It would seem that the “old order” is passing away, to be replaced by what?  At this point, no one knows.  We are perhaps crossing one of those massively important thresholds of human history.

• Third, the entire debt ceiling crisis boils down to a disagreement about the role of the US government in our lives and in our economy.  As the columnist Charles Krauthammer has argued, as a nation, we are in the midst of an enormous debate on the size and reach of government, the future of the welfare state and the nature of the social contract between citizen and state.  There are two visions for the US—one a social-democratic one, as in Europe, and one of limited government.  This reality of two competing visions of America has informed every major issue since President Obama was inaugurated—the stimulus, the auto bailouts, health-care legislation, financial regulation and deficit spending.  The most recent debt ceiling crisis manifests this divide as well.  These two visions for America are in competition and the definitive popular verdict has yet to be rendered.  [Presumably, the 2012 presidential and congressional elections will do this.]  President Obama faces two massive challenges—jobs and debt.  He tried a typical Keynesian solution, an enormous stimulus package that resulted in a stagnant economy and a staggering debt burden.  The American public will hold him accountable for this.  But the future of the US depends on how the public processes these two competing visions.  At this point, it is uncertain which one of these visions will win out.

• Finally, a thought about the tone of our national dialog.  The language of dialog in America is poisonous and filled with vituperation.  There is little room for kindness or compassion.  As a nation we do not seek to understand those with whom we disagree.  It seems impossible to be civil or reasoned in our national debates.  The discussion over the debt ceiling, for example, was so intense and fixed that no middle ground seemed possible or feasible.  Any kind of compromise was not discernible until the nation was at the brink of disaster.  This kind of rigidness extends to discussion about social policy.  What Juan Williams calls “speech code,” informs national dialog about social issues.  He writes:  “No one is supposed to talk about family breakdown and the number of out-of-wedlock births in the nation.  If you do, be prepared to be charged with airing dirty laundry and wreaking psychological damage on the children of single women.”  Or consider this:  “. . . to bluntly say immigrants need to assimilate—to learn English, to be patriotic, to abide by US standards of law—is to risk attack by one civil rights group or another for being insensitive to people who want to celebrate their roots.”  The Obama administration refuses to use the term “terrorist,” for fear of offending Muslims who sympathize with the political goals of the terrorist who uses violence against civilians.  I have experienced the reality that it is impossible to have a reasoned discussion about the ethics of human sexuality.  There is no more room for reasoned discussion, for example, about the ethical issues related to homosexuality or same-sex marriage.  For much of our culture, the debate about same-sex issues is over.  Try and have a reasoned discussion about this issue and you will be called a bigot, a “Nazi,” or even worse.  I have experienced this personally!  For a democracy, free and honest public debate is a given, but this is no longer the case in America’s democracy.  Politically correct speech governs dialog and there are now so many issues that you simply cannot discuss.  Speech codes and political correctness drown out honest intellectual debate in America today—and that is not healthy for our democracy or for the future of our nation.  May God help us. –Dr Jim Eckman

Cause: Death of Job
Effect: Fired

Cause: Death of Freedom
Effect: Prison

Cause: Death of Peace
Effect: Rebel Child

Cause: Death of Joy
Effect: Guilt and Shame

Cause: Death of Love
Effect: Bitterness and Revenge

Cause: Death of Success
Effect: Debt and Poverty

Cause: Lack of Wisdom
Effect: Above mentioned causes

1. Sociopath: Who destroys everything for his satisfaction. Adolf Hitler

2. Opportunist: Who only thinks of himself/herself at the cost of others: Bernie Madoff and Enron CEO Jeffery Skilling who very much qualifies for this type

3. Chameleon:Who try to please everyone all the time, Maidique fails to give example, says it doesn’t work too well with them as they don’t tend to rise too far in organisations. But Maidique goes on to say in politics, they abound.

4. Achiever: Who is goal-oriented, good at beating sales targets Maidique puts former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd in this category.

5. Builder: Who serves no goal but an institution with a grand vision, which is not affected by the fluctuations in short-term profit or stockmarket valuations. IBM’s Tom Watson, Jr., General Motors’ Alfred P. Sloan, and Oprah Winfrey

6.Transcendent: Who work to benefit all of society. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Dalai Lama.

There is only one leadership quality I always admire..

0. Servant Leadership: Who serves others at the cost of his life, not as one who destroys everything for satisfaction, not being selfish, not acting to please others, not focussed towards achieving his goals for the benefits which are hidden behind his intentions, not serving an institution with preconceived ideas, thoughts and concepts, which he or she acquired over a period of time, not benefiting  a particular society but on the whole.

relatives would scramble for their money, the worms for their bodies and the enticing things of this world for their souls, they would not be so anxious to save money!

Money as such is not the root cause of all evil, it the love that we have for it in our hearts.

Abraham Lincoln

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

~Cicero 55BC

That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked, and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich — a great equalizer.

The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class based on Obama’s plan.” All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade, so no one would fail, but and no one would receive an ‘A’.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a ‘B’. The students who studied hard were upset, but the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who had studied hard decided they wanted a free ride, too, so they studied little. The second test average was a ‘D’. No one was happy!

When the third test rolled around, the average was an ‘F’, and the scores never did increase as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings, and no-one would study for the benefit of the others.

All students failed the course — to their great surprise! The professor had told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes away all the reward, no-one will try, or even want to succeed.

Do you want to make a difference? Then pay attention to the metaphor of the ant. It’s amazing that one of the smallest of God’s creatures can become one of His greatest teachers. The lessons the ant teaches us can be summarized this way:

A- Attitude of Initiative
Ants don’t need a commander to tell them to get started.

N- Nature of Integrity
Ants work faithfully and need no outside accountability to keep them doing right.

T- Thirst for Industry
Ants work hard and will replace their anthill when it gets ruined.

S- Source of Insight
Ants store provisions in summer.
If we consider and learn from the ways of the ant, we can grow wise.