Humility: a leadership imperative

Imagine this. You’re in a meeting where the boss excitedly tells everyone about his latest big idea. You listen in disbelief as he describes the groundbreaking idea you brought him last week and realize that he has shamelessly escaped your creativity and claims it as his own to look good in front of others. Feelings range from shock to pain and seething rage as you disconnect from everything else he has to say, wondering how many other people in the room this “legend in his own mind” has done this. You decide not to share your ideas with this company again.

Now, change your seat. Suppose you are the one speaking about your great idea in this scenario, and you are the one who did not give credit where it was due. Perhaps insecurity, fear of being overshadowed, or, to be honest, lack of humility caused you to get the glory someone else deserved. Suppose further that you know that it is your “Achilles heel”, the defect that prevents you from being someone who others think of as a true leader …

Humility, which is the recognition of the truth about who we are in relation to others, is absolutely essential for effective leadership. GK Chesterton once said: “It is always the insurance who are humble.” A leader confident enough to admit that he doesn’t have, or needs to have, all the answers is rewarded with the contributions of talented followers committed to the success of the entire organization. Jim Collin’s research, which became the basis for his landmark book “Good to Great,” is filled with examples of organizations that have consistently outperformed their peers over time when led by an individual with the paradoxical qualities of deep personal humility and unwavering perseverance towards set goals. goals.

A leader whose sole focus is on himself, and how much he knows or is capable of doing alone, generally also lacks empathy, the ability to put himself in someone else’s shoes and understand what it must feel like to be himself in a situation, what which is why it is possible to steal someone else’s thunder without thinking … or blinking.

Unfortunately, history has not been kind to arrogant leaders who only learn what it means to be humble when they, and by association, their organizations, are humiliated by public humiliation.

To paraphrase Chesterton … it is always the insurance who are humble enough to admit that they may need help.

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