Ambition as a noun: the object, state, or result desired or sought after and as a verb used with an object: to seek after earnestly; aspire to. Walter Kaufman, the renowned German-American philosopher, coined the term “humbition” as a blend of humility and ambition to represent a key virtue for the modern, autonomous individual. He described it as “humility winged by ambition”– an driven pursuit of greatness coupled with a deep awareness of one’s own limitations and potential for error. It is the first of Kaufman’s four cardinal virtues (along with love, courage, and honesty) that he proposed to guide a life of moral openness and intellectual honesty. So we should not read our own PR, press releases, literally or metaphorically. The saying goes, ‘You are only as good as your last performance’, meaning your current reputation and value are judged by your most recent actions and that past successes do not guarantee future ones. The Dunning-Kruger effect comes to mind here where we become extremely confident at the beginning of a project and quickly learn that without patience, determination and enthusiasm we will not see its success. Humbition, a fabulous realization that Kaufman has given us…