Ask HN: Who do you respect, and why?

I really respect people who know their own shortcomings, and work hard to overcome them. In an effort to live up to my own ideal, I acknowledge that I often fail in this regard, and often catch myself dismissing something I don't immediately understand.<p>The converse of that is that it's always sad to me to meet someone who can't admit what they don't know, or can't acknowledge the achievements of others. All of the people I've known that I consider brilliant have also had an amazing amount of humility about what they didn't know, and have been fast to praise the achievements of others. It's a goal I strive for, but again, I know I often fall short.

I respect only one thing: competence.<p>In fact, that breaks down into 3 things: competence, knowledge, and experience, but only because the last two are often indicators of the first, so it would be unwise to dismiss them.<p>Achievements are a symptom of competence, so I do respect people who have achieved what I consider great things.<p>However, even where someone is knowledgeable, experienced, and having apparently achieved great things, if they display something which indicates a severe lack of competence, my respect for them will automatically decrease - not to zero, of course, but still, it can take a severe hit.

I think that what I respect is anyone who is unpretentiously humble. People who just do their thing, do it the best way they can, and do not constantly introspect about how good they are, or how they are in a better class that other people.<p>The difference is that if a humble person who has a lot of experience in a field talks to someone who is new to the field, once he realises that the knowledge of the person does not match his, and it would be impossible to have an interesting conversation, he just switches the topic to something else. But the non-humble person will insist on trying to teach the other person, or tell the other person how things should be done, even when his opinion is not solicited.

&#62; What do you see people emphasizing about themselves over and over again, which actually signal they "just don't get it"?<p>Hard to answer, "it" has many values...<p>That the have <i>the</i> or all the answers. That they <i>know</i> and they have nothing to learn on a given topic.<p>Hubris, ego.<p>Also anyone who worships "personalities" like PG, joel, Jobs, Greenspan, Rand, etc.<p>In other words I care little about prestige, can't stand celebrity and value achievements lightly(which are often little more than being at right place at right time and not totally sucking). A person's character is vastly more important.<p>Character is something you can only discover up close. So, I personally know the people I respect and you have no reason to have ever heard of them.

I respect people who, on at least one occasion, have been right when I'm wrong and think I'm right. The only way to really get my attention is to defeat me. Other qualities like kindness and honesty earn my regard and I'll do things to help that person, but that's not the same as hesitating to disagree with them.<p>Regardless of what this reveals about my personality, it's true.

I try to respect everyone, because I've found my own happiness seems to vary directly in proportion with how well I do this. In both directions.<p>I think you're also asking about who you admire, and what achievements you admire. Great questions, need some thought.

Like everything else that we feel, I sense that we don't have a lot of control over who we feel great respect for... we only have the opportunity to justify it in hindsight.<p>I think that the people that I respect the most are people that I feel are honest and trustworthy. I have no patience for those who play politics or talk out of both sides of their mouths.<p>You could be the most talented coder or illustrator or kung-fu master or whatever fits the bill for the project that I'm working on... and if you're not honest and trustworthy, I really can't build any kind of working relationship with you.

Well-roundedness. Programmers who can write, designers who can code, and so on.

I respect people who can silence the the inner voice that fears embarrassment--people who can "dance like no one is watching." I've been working on this personally. I'm convinced it is one of life's great keys to success.

More than anything, I respect awareness. I respect people who are self-aware, and cognizant of the world around them. I respect people who appreciate themselves and other people and the universe around them as the mystery they are, yet who still try to make inroads of understanding.<p>Compared to awareness, creativity, determination, and integrity, awareness stands alone.

The guy who stood up to those tanks in Tiananmen Square.

I respect people who go above the call of duty. Sure you may be great at X, but if you only do whats assigned to you, it shows me that its just a job for you and not something you truly enjoy.

Collectively, HN posters and commenters seem to 90% get it. Unbelievable for a website like this.<p>Reddit runs at about 50%<p>Metafilter runs at about 40%<p>Digg at 5%

I think the people that I most respect are the people that inspire me to be better. So in no particular order:<p>Steve "Woz" Wozniak, Sir James Dyson, Yuri Gagarin &#38; Fred Hollows are the ones that I could name off the top of my head.

People who are diligent, intelligent and most importantly, compassionate.

I respect those that have found a job they truly enjoy doing.

I respect demonstrated performance.<p>Is is done? Does it work? Does it bring value to others?<p>Anything less is just posing.