Cost of Arrogance

Many members of our church are reading chronologically through the Bible. In our reading, we have noticed that a recurring theme is that God honors humility and abhors arrogance.

While many of us would acquiesce to the spiritual dangers of arrogance, Eric Schmidt, former CEO and current Executive Chairman of Google, places an astronomically costly dollar value on its practice.

In an interview detailed in "Business Insider", Schmidt reveals what Google looks for when hiring, and it has a lot to do with collaborating with others. If someone comes across as overly arrogant, that could mean that he/she will not work well as a member of a team.

Schmidt candidly recounts the beginning of Google by stating, "In my first year, I would get phone calls from people that I knew, and they'd say, 'I'm the VP at Company X, and in my career path, I need to be a Chief Operating Officer.' That was always a signal that I should hang up."

So how costly was their self-centered arrogance? Schmidt explains, "And by the way, because of the packages we were giving out then, before we went public, those people who did that (behaved arrogantly) cost themselves a half a billion dollars ($500,000,000) in personal wealth.

In today's environment of teamwork and collaboration, arrogant people are at a distinct disadvantage. Instead of thinking of the greater good they think of their own career path and what is best for them. According to Schmidt, arrogant people don't collaborate well, and this can be costly to the organization and to them personally.

"Google's Former CEO Explains How Arrogance Cost Potential Employees Half a Billion Dollars" by Jillian D'Onfro in Business Insider, October 11, 2014.