Pride: Is the Deadliest Sin the Secret to Success? | Dr. Jessica Tracy

Dr. Jessica Tracy is the Director of the Emotion and Self Lab at the University of British Columbia, and someone I have been looking forward to interviewing for a long time.

Back in 2016 she published a book titled: Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success.

The title grabbed my attention.

Largely because the form of pride that I have seen more often discussed is hubris. 

Which shows its face in different ways:

• An overinflated ego
• Peacocking
• Flaunting success 
• Dominance and instilling fear as a leader, etc.

This hubristic side is well known, but what Jessica’s work shows is that pride has another face. 

One that is essential for helping us become our best, brightest selves. 

In the right doses and the right contexts, pride has been proven to boost creativity, motivate altruism, and confer power and prestige on those who display it. Today we’ll dive deep into this, covering hubristic pride, but also really exploring this less often discussed form of pride. 

What she calls authentic pride.

Which when harnessed may just hold the secret to success.

In today’s episode:

• How to cultivate authentic pride, including practices of getting quiet, listening to your life, and asking big questions about who you want to be and become
• Key differences between hubristic and authentic pride
• Intriguing findings that Jessica and her team have discovered about pride, both it’s drawbacks, and surprising benefits in life, at work, and in relationships
• Dominance and prestige - two leadership styles that manifest from hubristic and authentic pride and the impact each style has on teams, and organizations
• Why authentic pride can be a catalyst for creativity, innovation, and thriving organizational cultures
• The connection between pride and grit - how experiencing authentic pride can be the fuel for perseverance toward very long term goals
• How cultivating authentic pride can be a path to living well

I hope you enjoy the conversation with Jessica as much as I did!


Did you find this conversation inspiring? Here are other episodes we think you'll love:

• The Transformative Power of Humility | Dr. Daryl Van Tongeren
• Neuroscience, Spirituality, and the Quest for an Inspired Life | Dr. Lisa Miller

More about Jessica: 

Dr. Jessica Tracy is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where she also directs the Emotion and Self Lab. Her research focuses on emotions and emotion expression, and especially on the self-conscious emotions of pride and shame. She has published over 80 journal articles, and her groundbreaking work on pride has been covered by hundreds of media outlets, including ABC’s Good Morning America, NPR’s All Things Considered, the New York Times, the Economist, and Scientific American. 

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