Of course, ambition is fairly sacred in America. On the other hand, when we witness flame-outs and sociopaths who were too ambitious and jerks who weren't at all smooth about chasing whatever, we recognize that this field of force has to be managed carefully. In their book THE ARC OF AMBITION, James Champy and Nitin Nohria observe, "People have always felt ambivalent about ambition."
Yet, in interviewing diverse sources for a feature I'm writing for AOL Jobs, I was surprised to find out that most people see great value in ambition, despite the inherent dangers. My, what a shift in world view from my days growing up in the vestige of Eisenhower culture [God, Country, Family] as a Baby Boomer. Or perhaps I should qualify that as "female Baby Boomer."
On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't attach any qualification. My classmates of both sexes at Synder High School in Jersey City, New Jersey and my professors of both sexes at Seton Hill College, Greensburg, Pennsylvania rarely mentioned the "a" term. Instead, there was passion about making a contribution to society and being a good reflection on our families. It was the strangers in a strange land among us who we referred to as "ambitious." That was shorthand for explaining the large deviation from the norm.
Unlike then, among those I had recently interviewed for the article, there was no apology and no over-careful defining of the term. Ambition was out there, just the way sex, aging, and underwater mortgages are today.
Those I have interviewed include:
- Mark Herrmann - Vice President and Chief Counsel - Litigation, Aon, and Author of THE CURMUDGEON'S GUIDE TO PRACTICING LAW
- Mark Matousek - Author of WHEN YOU'RE FALLING, DIVE
- Nick Williams - Partner at law firm Sondhi Williams, LLP
- Lee Hansen Harrison - Part-time Librarian, Full-time Thinker, Classmate from college
- Amy Karnilowicz, LMFT - Cognitive Behavioral Therapist
- Michael Francoeur - Dale Carnegie Training Franchise Owner and Instructor
The feature article will be published on AOL Jobs in mid January. For sure, I will post a link to it on this blog.
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