Humility might be the foundational quality of leadership. It isn’t the only quality. It might not be the most important quality. But it is fundamental to acquiring and growing all the other qualities a leader needs.

It is also one of the more challenging qualities for most of us. Or is it just me?

What is humility, why is it important, and how can we develop it?

WHAT IS IT?

We want to be seen. We want to be recognized, respected, praised, admired, appreciated, wanted, celebrated, and remembered.

Those aren’t bad desires. They are normal, human desires. But they can get twisted into selfishness, self-centeredness, envy, jealousy, manipulation, and insecurity.

Humility is not rejecting all praise and recognition. It isn’t having a poor self-image or always being self-deprecating when complimented.

Rick Warren, summarizing C.S. Lewis’s thoughts, rightly said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”

That is a helpful distinction.

Humility acknowledges our strengths while recognizing we can learn from others.

Humility admits we are good at some things, but poor at others.

Humility considers others first, before thinking of oneself.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Humility is important for leaders on both personal and team levels.

On a personal level, leaders must be learners. Change is constant. Whether the change concerns technology, competition, the market, culture, or other variables, something is always changing. Leaders need to understand those changes, the impacts those changes will have on their organization, and how to navigate them. These things are rarely understood in advance. They must be learned in real time. A lack of humility can prevent that.

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

Without humility, leaders can’t learn, which means they can’t adapt to change.

On a team level, leaders must be able to attract and retain people smarter and more capable than themselves. That is impossible to do if the leader is prideful, arrogant, or insecure (and being insecure is not being humble). These leaders will always be the cap on their team’s talent. Anyone smarter or more capable will avoid the team or leave as soon as possible.

A humble leader, however, wants to surround themselves with people better than themselves in many areas. They aren’t threatened by the excellence of others. They seek it, attract it, highlight it, and develop it. They push others up. They shine a light on their team members’ intelligence and skills. They make room for them at the table and provide room for them to grow. Talented people want to work for humble leaders. This is not only good for the team members, but it also makes the leader look good!

This is the inverse nature of humility. The more we genuinely try to think of others rather than ourselves, the more others think of us. The more we think of ourselves, the less others think of us.

Another reason that humility is important as a leader is that we will inevitably make mistakes. We screw things up. We hurt people. Rarely are mistakes intentional, but they still cause damage. Humility allows leaders to admit those mistakes and learn from them. Usually, when mistakes are small, having the humility to regularly and openly admit them builds credibility. When mistakes are bigger, humility allows relational repair to begin. It allows trust to be rebuilt.

Leaders who are unable to humbly admit mistakes are doomed to repeat them, destroy trust, and hurt people in the process.

HOW DO WE DEVELOP IT?

Given how important humility is to leadership, how do we develop it?

Because humility is an attitude or mindset (internal), it is possible to do things (external) that look humble but aren’t. Yet, our mindset is shaped by our actions. Therefore, one way to become more humble is to do humble things with the desire for a humble attitude.

Some examples of humble things:

• Allowing others to go first
• Allowing others to speak first
• Asking about others
• Listening rather than speaking
• Doing things that are not seen/recognized
• Sharing credit
• Deferring to the preferences of others
• Being thankful
• Admitting mistakes

If you are reading this, you want to be a good leader. So do I. There are so many things necessary to being a good leader that it can sometimes feel overwhelming. There is pressure to look like you have it all figured out.

But no one does.

And we all know that.

Humility allows us to admit that and learn from others as we go. Let’s grow together.

 

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