Why Entrepreneurs Should Not Blow Their Own Trumpet It's important that as an entrepreneur scales up the ladder, he/she also remains humble about the accomplishments

Events, meetings, dinners… you'll know it's a congregation of entrepreneurs, when work and the news of the startup world take over all discussions and technology discussions reign supreme. Founders often get together and while speaking about work, they often dismiss the point of the discussion and keep talking about their own achievements.

Blowing their own trumpet, sometimes entrepreneurs don't realize that they aren't gaining fans but losing followers. A pompous entrepreneur is not going to be liked by anyone. It's important that as an entrepreneur scales up the ladder, he/she also remains humble about the accomplishments.

Entrepreneur India spoke to start-up founders about the thin line between boasting and explaining your work and achievements.

A Difficult Balance But Not Impossible

When an entrepreneur is talking to an investor or fellow colleague about his/her startup and its growth story, they often tend to focus a lot on the achievements without realizing that the other person is disinterested or more specifically, has lost interest.

To keep the conversation engaging, the entrepreneur has to know the difference between boasting and explaining their work. Vinay Aranha, director at Rosary group, believes that it's important to be proud of your achievements. But at the same time, you need to be humble of your achievements. This can be a difficult balance to strike.

Aranha has a simple solution – remember your achievements are a team effort. "The line is drawn where you begin to talk about yourself than the team. The more "I" you use the more you lower your achievements value. You need to give credit to the deserving team members because their effort has brought you the success and not your effort alone," he said.

Being Humble Will Work For You

It's a quality that entrepreneurs cannot afford to lose. Not just for outsiders but also within your office, you will end up creating a hostile environment if you aren't humble. Ketan Kapoor, Co-founder and CEO, Mettl believes that blowing your own trumpet creates a roadblock in building a new team. "When you start acknowledging the team's effort, you will be able to build and lead an effective team loyal to you. It also brings a higher attractiveness index - a humble leader is liked more by clients and employees than somebody who is not," he said.

Aranha meanwhile said that humility is rare not because people are not humble but because we take it for granted. We tend to walk all over person who is humble. It is also a two way street, you are humble if you respect someone else humility. "Being humble costs nothing, just a little less ego and more appreciation. Mutual respect will make it easy to be humble. Humility opens doors of opportunities that have a straight route to success. It doesn't build roadblocks but crosses hurdles with ease," he said.