"Having strong views" and being an "egoist" are two different things.

An egoist may not have strong views on anything. Here I wish to distinguish between "pushing one's views - whether substantial or not, or wishes or whims; strongly upon the others" and having dedication or commitment towards certain views.

An egoist will push his views on others; whether or not he knows anything much about what he knows or believes in.

Having strong views implies that a person is committed to those views. For example, a person may have strong views about "vegetarianism", "anti-smoking", "corruption" etc.

Hope the distinction is amply clear.

I shall illustrate it further with few examples.
Anna Hazare has strong views against corruption.
But is he an "egoist" ??

Similarly, Mahatma Gandhi had strong views on "Ahimsa (Non-violence)" and "Truth".
But, can we call him an "egoist" ?

There are other examples too:
Adolf Hitler had strong views on the "supremacy of his race"; and on "Jews" and he was also an "egoist" !!
Your boss my not know about anything or any issues; but he may force you to do something, out of his ego and the power he holds over you.

I hope it helps clarify the matter and put these terms in their proper perspective.
Warm regards.

From India, Delhi
good question dear,
A STRONG VIEW FROM A PERSON IS NOT AN EGO. IF OTHERS THINK HIS VIEW IS GOOD THEN IT LOOKS GOOD . IF IT IS NOT LIKED BY SOME ONE ITS CALLED AS EGO.. ITS REALLY DEPEND ON THE THOUGHT OF THE OTHERS HOW OTHERS UNDERSTAND..

From India, Guntur
  • Strong Views, Ego and Rigidity etc. all very often go hand in hand though all have a different meaning and the contest of situation will also matter a lot.These words needs to be used very carefully.
  • Chances are there that a person with no views can also be egoistic. Somebody has already suggested it.
  • One never calls oneself as egoistic. It is often the opinion of others about the one based on individual perceptions, experiences and circumstances.
  • Dr. Ulhas Ganu has brought in very important point of 'threshold'. Based on individual threshold levels and other circumstances someone is labeled as egoistic. But as said by Dr. Ganu, there will be lot of variation in individuals threshold levels.

From India, Pune
Interesting discussion. I guess Taj and Ulhas have given a lot of perspective and Raj has helped refine it a lot...
I had a discussion with a client and he called me a 'sophisticated bully!' He said that I never entered into verbal fights but I had so strong views and even stronger substantiation that the front person got 'bullied' by it as he had limited choice but to accept the strong logic... Guess I am on the thin-line after I re-read the posts :-)

From United States, Daphne
Hello Nikhil

I can understand what the client feels and why.

You must be a person with WELL MODULATED VOICE, a STRONG TONE of a CONFIDENT PERSON WHO KNOWS his SUBJECT WELL, and HAS ART of PREPARING EVIDENCE BASED PRESENTATIONS (with references) so that NO ONE CAN NULLIFY the ARGUMENT or PROPOSITION. Since yours is a CLIENT & Not An Employer-Employee Relationship and still he wanted to continue with you, to me it is like his wanting to 'HAVING A ROSE WITHOUT THE THORNS'.

As A Scientist we were always ENCOURAGED by our Boss to SPEAK on TOPICS of DISCUSSION OPENLY and FEARLESSLY & EXPRESS OUR OPINIONS.

As CONSULTANT in CORPORATES, I FOUND that the CEOs, MD or CHAIRMAN have their own (HIDDEN) AGENDA (as we never know the real prices or profit margins). If they PROPOSE a POINT which is OPPOSED (by Honest & Committed People PRIMED by BROUGHT UP FROM PRIME INSTITUTIONS) they get UNCOMFORTABLE. The Insult many a times is Not So Much in Failing but Rather It Being Known by People, who may laugh.

We had similar problems with our customers. I had a discussion with my colleague, Gopal Iyer on this and we branded the Syndrome with MNEMONIC as 'ACHES' (A: Ability, C: Commitment, H: Honesty, & E for that uninhibited Expression by us which was sometimes uncomfortable to clients in open meetings but not so when talked one to one as his/her EGO is not attacked in front of juniors). The S represented Success for which to accrue, the ACHE is necessary.

Then we decided a policy to have personal brief with top management (CEO or MD) before Group Meeting to refine the agenda.

In Medicine Pain is a NON-PARAMETRIC PARAMETER as THRESHOLDS of different People Vary. They can not be analyzed STATISTICALLY. These can be converted to PARAMETRIC (Measurable) by a SCALE. There are many Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) to express Pain or Heat by Patients.

This discussion and your observations of Borderline EGO prompted me to try & develop a Scale for EGO. I have used Prof. Ravi's Poovia's (IIT) Signage for it. They are fantastic (great job). I dont know if all symbols I used are apt in EGO SCALE but could be closer to the meaning. (There in no copyright on it).

Dr Ulhas Ganu

From India, Mumbai
Hi Ulhas,
Interesting post. I was referring to a one-to-one with the CEO/MD... and this was his observation :-)
But I liked the framework. Let me see if I can use it effectively. Thanks for sharing that.
Reg,
Nikhil

From United States, Daphne
Dear Nikhil ,
I converted this page into a PDF. Its a white paper now :)
If you want to access the same for any other threads here's the path:
Go to the printable option, get the content in one page , saved HTML version on Desktop , changed it on PDF !
Congrats to everyone who contributed !!!!
Regards,
(Cite Contribution)

From India, Mumbai
Attached Files (Download Requires Membership)
File Type: pdf CiteHR Human Resource Management - Is a person with strong views an egoist .pdf (326.0 KB, 147 views)

That was a beautiful idea (Cite Contribution).
But the flow could have been more consistent if irrelevant postings [like that of kavitabhatia30--asking 'how to post a new thread'] could have been deleted in the PDF.
Neverthless, a nice thing to save for future, I would say :-)
Rgds,
TS

From India, Hyderabad
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