An admirable trait of the truly great is their ability to recognize the limitations of their actual talent in combination with their ability to not waste their talent. They recognize they have some talent, have some humility about that talent, & relentlessly pursue using the talent they do have.

That said.

Simply because they may have risen above the talents of the ordinary has not stopped them from believing they are not that extraordinary. In fact, maybe what I admire most is how they dwell on their ordinariness. Or maybe it’s that they recognize the potential fleetingness of their talent and what people perceive as greatness.

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“I know just how it feels to think of the right thing to say too late.”

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Robert Frost

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C’mon. Can you believe this?

This is the guy who probably wrote some of the most amazing poetry of all time.

This is the guy who in 1961 JFK asked, for his inaugural ceremony, to give a poetry reading.

This is the crazy talented wordsmith sonofabitch who, blinded by the sun’s glare on the snow covered Capitol grounds, found himself unable to read the poem he had prepared.

So what did he do?

This is the guy who recited “The GiftOutright” from memory.

It opens with:

 

The land was ours before we were the land’s.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours …

 

People watching noted other people frickin’ cried over his words.

Read it yourself.

Imagine being there.

You would be moved to tears yourself.

And this guy suggests he couldn’t think of the right thing to say? Well. Makes me feel a little better about the time I not only stumbled over words, but was a blithering idiot.

Oh. How about this?

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“I have no particular talent, I am merely extremely inquisitive.”

really questionAlbert Einstein

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I think like this quote so much because I cannot envision how one of the greatest minds of all time would suggest he has no particular talent.

Now. I am sure he had an ego (who wouldn’t if you thought of things people had never thought of before … consistently).

But. “I have no talent.”

C’mon.

When is the last time you heard one of your management people say this.

When is the last time someone said this in an interview?

When is the last time you heard anyone say this?

C’mon.

Could you imagine good ole Al sitting there in his rumpled suit and the interviewer asks official question number 4 “please tell me what you think you are good at?”

And Al reaches up and tries to smooth down that crazy hair of his, hesitates, and says “well, I have no particular talent, I am merely extremely inquisitive.”

(cut to interviewer making note to self “cut interview short. Not ambitious enough. Cannot identify any talent. Waste of time interviewing.”)

Look.

Robert Frost was said to be an irascible bastard to be around.

Albert was seen as kind of loony (and apparently didn’t know any barbers) but nice guy.

But given these two quotes I am sharing they both recognized that they weren’t always the bee’s knees (I have been looking for an opportunity to use that in a post one day). I personally believe we could use a good dose of this attitude <some humility> in today’s workplace a little more than the current dosage may be.

I guess I also think our country’s leadership could maybe take a sip of this humility too.

Regardless. Some people will point to humility being a consistent characteristic of a great leader. And they may be right. All I really know is these quotes are a good reminder that, no matter how talented you may be, even the greatest of the great minds took it all that ‘talent’ in stride. Let’s not call it humility, let’s call it “perspective.”

Maybe these guys, for all their quirks and eccentricities, had character. And for that, above any talent they had, they should earn our respect. As any talented person, who handled themselves this way, would deserve respect.

I do believe all of us have some greatness within, therefore, we all must have something underneath that greatness. I call the underneath “the great equalizer.” It equalizes people into a common denominator regardless of what, or how great, their greatness is. Just note. A lot of people talk about ‘finding your passion’ or ‘greatness’ but maybe we should be talking more about what lies underneath greatness. Because maybe, just maybe, that is greatness.

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Written by Bruce