True Nobility

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

Ernest Hemingway

There are two types of competitiveness – intrinsic and extrinsic – the latter is when you compete with other people, the former when you keep trying to better yourself. I was once paired (at his request) with my boss, the head of digital at Channel 4, on a training programme. It turned out he, mild-mannered though he was, was fiercely competitive with others. The same diagnostic test showed that I was completely opposite and competed with myself. I was happy and comfortable with that revelation. Bettering yourself is growth and growth is what we naked apes are all about.