I can see that being open to criticism, sharing what one has and does, could be a good way to improve skills. But why is improvement the goal, not pride and app

I can see that being open to criticism, sharing what one has and does, could be a good way to improve skills. But why is improvement the goal, not pride and appreciation? It doesn't really matter what I mean in the world, on some absolute scale, compared to how much joy I get out of the thing, no? At least as a proposition. Dialing down one's ego seems like a fine plan, but dialing down other people seems good too. Though I suppose no one likes to feel like they're in a rut.