Volume XXIII, Number 15 Issue 1124 | April 14, 2025
Things That Come in Threes – Part V
In crafting this series, some additional thoughts have come to me along the way. I feel a few of those insights are sufficiently worthy to warrant sharing before moving on. Accordingly, I would like to offer you the following:
First, though we began this study by introducing three qualities (smarts, ambition, and humility) that make success and advancement in one’s career more doable, there are some potential downsides to a couple of those attributes. Take smarts as an example. Some of the brightest minds of this or any generation have given us a host of incredible inventions and improvements to existing technologies. Such problem solving and critical thinking skills are worth their weight in gold. Yet those same minds have given us weapons capable of mass destruction (think the atom and hydrogen bombs). Might a quality with the potential for such good as well as bad outcomes benefit from a bit of reining in on occasion? Similarly, in the case of ambition, when taken too far, it can lead some to embrace an “end justifies the means” mindset. For such individuals, winning at any cost seems justified. With possible dark sides such as these lurking in the background, might counterweights be warranted? Humility is one such counterweight. But is it enough by itself?
Possibly not! Therefore, I feel compelled to add a fourth leg to our model, namely a good moral compass. Throughout humankind’s existence, the ability to rely on a set of widely accepted guiding principles (values) has made for better outcomes. The physics of stools notwithstanding (a three-legged stool is more stable than a four-legged one), I believe the benefit of two good counterweights insures we are better served with four rather than three legs in this model.
There you have it. The original list of three essential traits morphed into four while it took me five issues (and countless rewrites) to make my point.
Soli Deo Gloria
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” Luke 16:10
J. Keith Hughey
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