Excellence

I once told my friend that we are the best in the world in our research field. She was surprised, and said, isn’t that arrogant? I was surpised by this response, and tried to convince her that we really were the best in the world.
But that got me thinking. Why did she think I was arrogant, when I thought it was normal to consider myself the best at what I do? Then I realised, it’s based on our occupation. She works in a big bank, and consistency in service is expected of them. They are all expected to act the same, with regulations and policies guiding them. Whereas in academia, excellence is expected of us. We are expected to be respected experts in our field, we are expected to innovate, we are expected to own a key differentiator. We don’t take the status quo for granted, we continually question and test our hypotheses until we get as close as we can to the truth, or what is right.
Does that make me arrogant? Perhaps. As an academic I need to have my competitive advantage, and that includes finding my niche that I can call my own. That is, until I need to reposition myself in this ever-changing research landscape.