Has anyone ever struggled with a perception of being arrogant or egotistical? I've had this issue more times than I care to admit, yet it feels like every time it's come up it's been from people that I would define like that. So I can't ever tell if I'm just clashing with other strong personalities or if I'm legitimately doing something wrong. To further compound things, when it comes up it's always clouded around compliments contrary to that statement. I received a ton of great feedback last week, yet got hit with this this week from someone else.
I'll never understand at this rate. I know it was bad when I was younger, but I made a concerted effort to change since then.
I can't say I've ever had the perception of being arrogant or egotistical, but I do have a friend who is the bolded. Let's call her Betty. Every time that Betty would talk badly about someone, or shift the blame of something entirely onto someone else, the first thing that jumped to mind was 'well, you're basically describing yourself' or 'this is your fault though..', who has also said multiple times that she purposely puts down her friends to make herself feel better. I wasn't really sure if it was just me overthinking it, but when I mentioned it to one of her closest friends who's known her a much longer time than I have, and she just rolled her eyes and was like yup that's Betty....
So I don't really have anything outside of my own anecdotal experience, and I don't know you, but you've said you've made a concerted effort to change it, which means you have some introspection, and it doesn't come up anymore with friends/family but only with select few, I'd say it's more so them than yourself.
Also maybe there's a cultural difference in how your US vs Japanese clients view you?
