Facing a crisis? Maybe humble up rather than lawyer up.

We are all familiar with the CEO who thinks they know best about everything, wants to control every decision, and never admits they are wrong.?But is that the type of leader who performs well in a crisis?

There is now a growing belief that a key missing element in crisis leaders is humility. That when a crisis threatens it may be better to humble up rather than lawyer up. Humility is not a trait typically associated with leadership. It can?be regarded as suggesting indecisiveness or timidity. However, that is not what it means.

The online Urban Dictionary defines humble up as:?“To swallow your pride and accept the idea that someone else has a better idea on how to solve the problem you created for yourself.”

Crises, by definition, are when there is no black and white answer; when the cause and effect of events is unclear; and when urgent decisions must be made with incomplete or even contradictory information. If there was an easy solution it wouldn’t be a crisis in the first place. There is a legitimate place for celebrity leaders with charisma and a formidable ego. And they generally appeal to investors and the media. But managing a? crisis in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity is inherently difficult. In such circumstances a CEO who imagines they know best and tries to dominate decision-making can be a dangerous liability.

Moreover, lawyers in particular tend to be uncomfortable when the full facts are not known and when there is no precedent and no clear pathway forward. So just more legal advice isn’t necessarily the answer.

Theodore Roosevelt famously said: “People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” That’s never more true than in a crisis.

Consider the response by Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandez, when flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea during a flight from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all aboard.?“I am the leader of the company. I take responsibility. The passengers were on my aircraft, and I have to take responsibility for that.”?

Contrast that with former CEO Dennis Muilenburg of Boeing who stoutly defended the troubled 737 MAX aircraft after two fatal crashes and tried to blame poor pilot training. A Weber Shandwick/KRC?report has described humility as the “new green” among business leaders. It found that highly regarded CEOs are nearly six times as likely to be considered humble by their executives than poorly regarded CEOs.

They found that Executives with humble CEOs are more likely than average to describe their CEO as a good communicator (internally and externally), comfortable talking to the news media and open and accessible. They also found that humble CEOs are more likely to win awards for themselves or for the company, and are about twice as likely as the average CEO to participate in social media.

This conclusion?was reinforced earlier this year at the Telstra Best of Business Awards, where Queensland activewear chain LSKD was crowned Business of the Year for turning $3 million in sales into a turnover of $100 million after embracing e-commerce.

The final word about the importance of humility should go to LSKD CEO and founder Jason Daniel?when he received the award.? “For five years we had been on the same revenue number – $3m a year. I started to look at myself, and I realised I wasn’t being a great leader. I realised I needed to be humble and learn more.”

That’s the kind of leader who would do well in a crisis.?