(Benjamin Boyd, Vice President -Operations, Signature Landscape in Kansas City, shares his thoughts with us in this special edition of “cultivation(s)”.  Please join the conversation below by adding your comments!)

When I was twenty, my friend Matt & I were walking through a Louisiana soybean field hunting doves.  Unexpectedly, we saw a fast approaching military plane flying low overhead.  We thought it might be an F-15 Eagle, but we were not sure.  We stared up in awe.  

As the pilot flew overhead, it seemed he tipped his wings as if to say “Hello”.  To think he may have waved caused both of us to spontaneously jump up & down like six-year-old boys!  We weren’t certain the pilot had seen us…………. but the thrill of thinking he may have filled us with Pride!

What happened next changed our lives.  The plane turned & headed back.  Matt & I stood staring at the underside of this American war plane as it dove towards us. There was no question this time………… he saw us!  He saw us!   

We were two boys in a field having a highly skilled fighter pilot give us his attention……. just for a moment. We were so honored, & were so proud to be Americans!  Pride! What a gift!

There is another form of pride that I see in myself sometimes, as well as in others that is not so fun to speak about.  To reach our full potential, however, we must face this other form of pride head-on. This other form of pride seeks to be the center of attention, when the story isn’t only about us.  

At times, I have wanted sole credit for ideas my colleagues & I have come up with, when the recognition I was looking for would serve my pride, rather than the health of the team. I have watched others in business resist help because their pride would not allow them to reveal a weakness, or a need. I have seen winning practices go by the wayside because pride would not allow the best idea to win on that day.  I have watched capable people remain silent in meetings, because their pride would not let them risk exposing themselves.  

To know if the type of pride we are experiencing is healthy, I think we should ask if it can be accompanied by humility.  For example, when the parents of a kindergartener receive an excellent report from their daughter’s teacher, can pride & humility coexist with the joy of that good news? 

I had an idea about an article that would address two types of pride and somewhat timidly recommended Bill Dellecker take the concept & write about it.  In typical style of a people developer, Bill asked me to write it myself!  One type of pride warned me against exposing myself & ideas by writing about them. The better form of pride………… the one that understands I stand on the shoulders of the HeartLand leaders, who themselves stand on the shoulders of others, told me to be humble enough to risk.

The story at HeartLand isn’t only about us & what we have accomplished so far.   There are many on our team currently, as well as many we have not yet met, who will work together in such a way as to make that unknown fighter pilot proud of all of us.

Onward & Upward – with Pride!

~ Benjamin Boyd