Ambition: Good or Evil?
Date Posted: June 25th, 2009
The idea of ambition is something I’ve been wrestling with for a while now. I like tackling big projects, and growing organizations from nothing into something flourishing. (I’m not particularly deft at it, but that’s besides the point. 
) So in a sense, I’m ambitious. Ambition isn’t usually considered a positive trait, though. The bad guys in books are often characterized as ambitious. The heroes rarely are. At the same time, being called “unambitious” isn’t a good thing either. What’s up with that?
The key to this problem (is ambition a positive or negative trait?) is definitions. The following definitions are my personal definitions, and while they don’t quite match the dictionary versions, I think they get a the heart of what it means to be ambitious.
- An Ambitious Project: A project with a large scope. A difficult project for the person working on it.
- Ambitious Person 1: Person who takes on ambitious projects
- Ambitious Person 2: Person who takes on ambitious projects for personal gain (power, fame, prestige, wealth, etc.).
The difference between Person 1 and Person 2 is knowledge of motivation. The second definition states that Person 2’s motive is personal gain. We don’t know what Person 1’s motivation is. Could be selfish, could be selfless, could be a bit of both.
So in truth, being called “ambitious” doesn’t say anything about whether you’re aligned with good or evil. It just says you like to take on difficult, great projects. Whether or not you consider that to be a good thing is up to you.
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