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Michael Jordan, like Steve Jobs, wouldn't be as revered if he came up today A ruthless desire to win / be great is no longer as aspirational as self-acceptance We prefer contentment to relentless ambition, not appreciating that it was someone's ambition that enabled our comfort
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Ambition is always revered by a small fraction, resented by a larger fraction, and treated with resignation as just another fact of life by the largest fraction. What reshapes that basic perception distribution is visibility of ambition, as a function of institutional environment
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Agreed. Ambition as a lived value is just maximalism, and comes in different flavors. Each of e.g. McClellan Needs (power, achievement, affiliation) can fuel ambition. But when Ambition is feted as part of Hero Journey archetype, is then it's just a tool of Fame Culture/Lottery.
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Institutions that hype "Ambition=Good" are probably more individualist, and ironically more brutal in that they manage individuals as a portfolio of outcomes. Alternatively, institutions that de-emphasize the component of Ambition in success probably are more communalist.
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