gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

At the risk of sounding flippant, but of course being real is a form of greatness. Being real implies honesty and integrity, and possibly also loyalty. All of these are great character traits, and are valued by many when they find them in others.

I agree with Stephen. And take the question one step further, can you be truly great without being real?

Loyalty comes easy when you're not focused on the call to greatness.

http://engrm.com/blogometer/2005/03/30/honesty.html

You can be "great" and false...but only for a while. People eventually catch on.

Deciding to be real and "exceptional" (which for me means being more/better than I am now) requires trust. Not just that I can do it, but also trust that I'll be awake enough to recognize people and ideas that can teach me. And that I'll do the same, more for the sake of helping others than to advance my cause.

As Evelyn says:

"Don't be fooled. Leaders and teachers surround us - rarely will they be in the guise of pastors, masters, CEOs and venture capitalists. Real conversations can happen anywhere - between anyone."

Funny how you throw the word "greatness" out there and a valuepack of societal neuroses bubble up to the surface. But then, maybe that was Hugh's intent from the beginning.

Actually is was Hugh's original statement about the poor not being able to afford him that got me thinking about the Call to Greatness, where I stood. That I'd rather connect directly with people of similar disposition, than struggle to make myself understood to those that different incentives.

Best comment I've heard recently that applies to this, at a recent "Hollywood" event.

Someone I had worked with said that it was nice to talk with the "real people" and I replied, "I'm real?"

The reply was "Hell yes, you're too bitter to be fake."

Yay, Bitterness, Yay!!!

I'd rather be rich and living on the west coast.

I'm just trying not to be a real a-hole.

That's hard enough.

If you really want to keep it real, save a small portion of the extraordinry insight you use to pimp hand made suits and use it on the promotion and development of new approaches to vaccination that will alleviate childhood disease and cancers. Then we'll see some worthy application of your mighty philosophical engine.

Really, Steve Griffiths? Do we really want all creative, extraordinary people working on diseases and "saving the children"? Kind of a one-note life for our species, don't ya think? No music, no literature, no paintings, no fancy new suits...

Instead of the "gotta make the donuts" guy from the old Dunkin Donuts commercial, we'll all be walking around grumbling, "gotta save the children."

I'm just trying to be a real a-hole...

Notice my qualifier of perhaps using a small portion of your creative energy. There's still plenty left for suits, literature and pursuit of the aesthetic. Science, the only real growth industry, needs brilliant a-holes yielding Occam's razor too.