7 Powerful Qualities of Humble Leaders
I heard brilliance from a twenty-something when I asked what humble leadership looks like. She said, “Humble leaders know they need others.”
Self-reliance hinders leadership.
The tipping point of leadership is moving from delivering results yourself to helping others deliver results. At the beginning, you earn the right to lead by delivering your results. But, all leaders face the painful transition of learning to deliver results through others.
The real priority of leadership: Humility
- Judge people by their strengths, not yours.
- Understand that success depends on understanding, releasing, focusing and developing talent in others.
- Know yourself through habitual self-reflection.
- Understand how others perceive you. A disconnect between the way you see yourself and others see you indicates lack of self-awareness.
- Thank people when they share their insights and provide feedback. Painful feedback is good.
- Expect people to be their best. The guiding term is “their” best.
- Create environments that nurture and protect excellence. Expect the most from yourself.
Bonus: The uncomfortable truth of surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you is you become the dumbest person at the table, unless you’re a know it all.
The priority of humble leaders: Development
Once you realize success depends on others, developing others is obvious.
- Identify sticking points. Where do they begin making excuses and blaming? Help them take responsibility for their own success. It’s easy to begin well. Growing leaders finish well.
- Clarify their personal goals and align organizational responsibilities with personal goals.
- Provide short-term projects. Watch for frustration and joy. Help them follow their joy.
The biggest danger of leadership: Arrogance
- Self-made.
- You know best.
- Telling more than asking.
- Self-reliance. Success is about you.
Self-reliance is the enemy of successful leadership. It’s not about you, it’s about them.
Success, from a leader’s point of view, is bringing out the best in others, while everyone serves organizational interests.
What are humble leaders like?
How has humility protected and enhanced your leadership?
I wish the 1st question you ask was easier to answer than it is for me. Too many leaders, or should I say managers, have historically perceived that humility is a sign of weakness and an antithesis to leadership. How do we call them out when we see them without being arrogant ourselves?
Thanks James. Great question.
During the presentation I reference at the beginning of this post, we talked about the collision of expectations. Both leaders and followers have ideas about what leaders are like and when those expectations are disappointed people determine you’re a bad leader.
I mention this because there is still an expectation that successful leaders are more arrogant than humble. Calling people out in a culture that honors arrogance is perilous. If a leader is arrogant and remains in leadership, there’s a culture/expectation issue.
That’s my first thought this morning.
We do need to understand we need others. It is never a sign of weakness to ask for help, it is a sign of understanding. “To thine own self be true” is important for leaders, we need to know our weakness and find assistance in those areas. This helps us guard against arrogance.
Thanks Tom. I appreciate your approach to asking for help. When I was young I said, “I’ll do it myself.” To some degree that’s important. But, leaders don’t do things by themselves. 🙂
Expecting people to be “their” best has been one my own children called me out on a couple of years ago. I always felt I was accepting “their” best, but they always felt I was expecting more. Hard words to hear, but ones I’ve taken to heart!
Thanks Jill. There’s an interesting tension between what I want for others and what they want for themselves and what they are capable of. Then we have the challenge of putting people in situations that stretch them. It’s an important leadership challenge. Best wishes.
Great topic today. We can’t manage every person in an organization, but we can manage the managers. . . and making them great managers ensures the success of the organization. For further reading, I recommend The Secret, by Mark Miller. Have a great day, everyone.
humble leaders are servants, in the sense that they let their team succeed by clearing the roadblocks they encounter, not doing all the work.
Humble leaders do not hesitate to give credit where credit is due. Humble leaders are confident without being arrogant. Humble leaders lead with empowerment and encouragement . . . not with ego. Humble leaders exemplify the fact that to be a true leader is to acknowledge that they need to prepare others for leadership as well.
To me, humility and gratitude go hand-in-hand. Once I explicitly recognized that I am where I am more because of others’ support of and belief in me, it was a natural progression to be humble as well as grateful.
The ideal and quality of humility is how most leaders ascended to their current positions. Leaders studied with discipline, listened intently, learned obediently, and humbly accepted the mentorship of others.
When I think of the great quality of humility insofar as it impacts leadership, I am reminded of two scriptures. The first is: “The world has never known a more humble teacher than the Word of God Himself who taught in simple parables and homely examples drawn from sheep and goats and lilies of the field, from patches on worn clothing and wine in new bottles.”
The second is from the beginning of the Gospel of John: He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Bethlehem had no room for Him when He was born; Nazareth, no room for Him when He lived; and Jerusalem, no room for Him when He died.
Life is understood backwards, but lived forwards. Emptiness and fullness are opposites, not enemies. The ultimate test of our contributions may be our willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations–whose words of thanks will not be heard: We must care about a world we may not see. Humility turns life right-side-up, and leadership outside-in.
Terrific post! I’m a huge advocate of humble leadership in organizations. I truly believe that arrogant leaders have a shelf-life within their organizations. They may “rule the day” but eventually people tire of them and their tactics, which lessens overall passion throughout the team. Arrogant leaders get people to run through brick walls for a day, maybe two; Humble leaders run through brick walls first and others follow them (IMO). Have a good one!
Love this…and the wisdom of the young!
Great post Dan – thank you. Love the answer the twenty-something leader gave you!
Diana
Humble leaders realize that they cannot do everything alone. So they surround themselves with others who can accomplish the task.
Reading this post was, I’m itself, an exercise in humility; I see my own flaws.
“Judge people by their strengths, not yours.”
I need to work on that; it is a tremendous leadership pitfall. We all work so hard to achieve that we expect that we are all on equal footing but we are not. To be humble to a fault such that thinking, “well if I can do it, anyone can” becomes problematic. Thank heaven we all have different strengths or progress would cease.
Ready example that comes to my mind Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela who by their deeds aroused the entire nation into action.
Great concept, Jon. Humble pride is on target but a tough accord to strike. If there is at least an effort to avoid arrogance, I’m grateful 🙂
Dan,
This is one of the more difficult concepts to understand. People are told to make strong teams, to take risks, to challenge the status quo, and all with humility? – yes! The paradox of “Humble Pride” is exactly what is needed. You can be very proud of your team; even your personal accomplishments, and humble at the same time. If you have the opportunity to talk to a person who has earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, you will see Humble Pride before your eyes.
JP
An excellent post. Good tips for a leader to succeed in a new environment. I actually planned to use these in my new job. Thanks for reconfirming on my strong beliefs!
great topic. I work as a service mgr. I have a man that for many months I tried to get him to pick up the pace… finally I decided to quit asking for him to speed up and just told him that he is doing a great job and as he learns more he’ll get a little faster. Guess what.. he has not picked up the pace. he maintains an even keel and I have little to no call backs for the work he has performed. I was expecting him to do what I do and do it just as fast. He learned to do what I do and do it just as well. I’d say that’s 10X better!!