Hard jobs and good ambition: US Army generals and the rhetoric of modesty

This article examines the accounts given by U.S. Army general officers explaining their success. Based on interviews with sixty-two generals, I describe the ways in which these officers-whose profession renounces careerism and self-aggrandizement-fashion explanations of their success land the success of their colleagues) as being due to selfless service. Even as they have reached the zenith of success in their field; these men and women are not free to admit to personal ambition or to a desire for promotion. Their accounts of their success emphasize their good fortune hard work, and love of the service. Eschewing personal ambition, they cite as their primary responsibility the well-being of the soldiers under their command. When asked directly about their extraordinarily successful careers, they almost uniformly acknowledge their willingness to accept the "hard jobs" the organization has asked them to assume. When asked about ambition, they routinely distinguish between good and bad ambition, a distinction that aligns almost perfectly with that between unit and self. Although they are warriors, specialists in the art of war, this is a group that is also practiced in modesty.