Professor Adrian Bellamy announced Monday that he was “truly humbled and deeply honored” to receive a minor professional distinction, in a LinkedIn post carefully optimized to ensure that every person he has met since 2008 became aware of it.
“I don’t usually post about myself,” Bellamy wrote, introducing his fourth self-congratulatory update of the week. “But this one felt important to share.”
The post went on to describe the award, the selection process, Bellamy’s childhood, his “journey,” the importance of mentorship, the need to “lift others as we climb,” and the names of 37 senior academics whose notifications would now contain his face.
Colleagues said the humility was unmistakable.
“You could really sense how embarrassed he was by the attention,” said Professor Melissa Grant. “Especially in the photograph of him holding the certificate beside a banner with his name on it.”
Bellamy repeatedly insisted that the achievement was “not about me,” before devoting another nine paragraphs to what it meant for him personally.
“I stand on the shoulders of so many incredible people,” he wrote, adding a photograph in which none of those people appeared.
The post concluded with the observation that “success is never individual,” followed by the hashtags #Leadership #Gratitude #Excellence #Impact #AcademicLife #Blessed #Humbled.
Within hours, 186 academics had responded “Well deserved!”, including 74 who privately had no idea what the award was and 19 who immediately began drafting their own posts about being humbled by something else.