Pride: The Secret of Success

Jessica Tracy has flipped the script on pride, showing that it’s not just a deadly sin to be avoided, but also a vitalizing virtue to be nurtured.
—Robert Cialdini, New York Times–bestselling author of Influence Why did Paul Gauguin abandon middle-class life to follow the path of a starving artist? What explains the massive success of Steve Jobs, a man with great ideas but weak programming skills and a questionable managerial style? How did Dean Karnazes—the famed Ultramarathon Man—transform himself from a directionless desk jockey into an extreme athlete who once ran fifty marathons in fifty days? As the renowned emotion researcher Jessica Tracy reveals, each of these superachievers has been motivated by an often maligned emotion: pride. Its dark, hubristic side is well known, but Tracy shows that pride is also essential for helping us become our best, brightest selves. It makes us strive for excellence. In the right doses and the right contexts, it has been proven to boost creativity, motivate altruism, and confer power and prestige on those who display it. In Pride, Tracy explains how we can make this double-edged emotion serve us—rather than the other way around. Previously published in hardcover as Take Pride A revelation. A renowned psychologist, Jessica Tracy explains that seeking our best self is nothing to be ashamed of, but that seeking praise at all costs gets us into the worst kind of trouble —Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Grit Fascinating . . . Tracy uses original research to show that pride is a major part of what it means to be human and can be harnessed as a force for good.
—Daniel H. Pink, New York Times–bestselling author of Drive