We human beings are strange creatures. We'll work and slave and sweat blood to turn an idea into reality -- to start a business, compose an opera, run for political office or, most commonly, to create an initiative at our companies. And yet, when we do succeed, we immediately put everything we've worked so hard for at risk, all because of a single flaw:
We can't resist tooting our own horns.
Success, someone once said, is the next-worst thing that can happen to you after failure. That doesn't mean it affects everybody in the same way, because each of is wired differently. Scan any section of the newspaper for examples of people who for no apparent fault of their own found themselves humbled, and you'll find a common thread: They became celebrities of success, pumped up into big fat targets.