Your Ego Might Be Blocking Your Growth

A note to young leaders.

A brilliant scholar once visited a Zen master, eager to learn. Yet, as the master spoke, the student kept interrupting – offering his own opinions, proving his knowledge.

The teacher smiled, took a teapot, and poured the tea into the student’s cup. The tea reached the brim, then overflowed.

“Stop!” the student cried. “The cup is full!”

The Zen master nodded. “Just like your mind.”

If your mind is hostage to your ego and its desire to be right – you can’t learn anything new – and whatever progress you do make will be slow and accidental.

If you can let go, even temporarily, of who you are today – you’ll open up the possibility of who you can become tomorrow.

To grow is to change, to be great is to change often, and to change often is to be humble and coachable.