How To Spot Intellectual Humility In Others

Lately, I'm being approached by more and more organizations wanting to talk about the under-appreciated virtue of intellectual humility, and how to develop leaders who have it. This is exciting because intellectual humility is one of the two most important things I think we each will need to be good leaders and collaborators in the future. (Side note: here's the other one.)

But almost every time that I speak at an event about developing intellectual humility in ourselves, somebody approaches me with a related question:

How do you recognize when someone else has it?

Often this question is framed in the context of recruiting, but I think it's relevant for anyone who manages (or deals with) other people. If you aren't very familiar with the concept of intellectual humility, this post here will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about it.

But in brief, intellectual humility consists of four elements: Respect for Viewpoints, Lack of Intellectual Overconfidence, Separation of Ego from Intellect, and Willingness to Revise Viewpoints.

So spotting intellectual humility means looking for signs of these things:

Does This Person Have Respect for Other Viewpoints?

• They listen without interrupting.
• They don't disparage people who they don't understand or disagree with.
• They seek to understand what leads people to their viewpoints, and refrain from saying things like, "Who could possibly believe that?"

Does This Person Have A Lack of Overconfidence?

• They'll admit when they could be wrong, even when they make very good cases for what they believe.
• They refrain from using absolutes like "always," "never," and "certainly," and presumptions like "clearly" when there isn't data to back this up.
• They acknowledge when they don't know something.

Can This Person Separate Their Ego from Intellect?

• They don't take things personally, especially when they're shown they're wrong or weren't aware of something.
• They don't invoke identity when expressing or critiquing viewpoints. "As a man, I believe x, y, z." (Psychology shows we're more likely to resist changing our minds if doing so is attached to our identity, and invoking our identity is a sign we're likely to have a problem with that.)
• They don't invoke their years of experience, job title, or other marker of authority as a way to win their way or prove they're right.
• When they're right about something, or successful in some area, they'll give credit to the other people and influences that helped them do it.

Is This Person Willing To Revise Their Viewpoints?

• They'll be gracious about conceding points to others.
• They'll tell you about times when they did change their mind on something important. (If you need to, just ask them to!)
• They actually will change their mind when given evidence that they should.

Of course, just because these are simple doesn't mean they're easy—to do or to spot!

Research shows that people who have lived lots of places, speak multiple languages, and read a lot tend to have more intellectual humility. But because that research deals with averages, it's not a sure bet that just because someone speaks 3 languages they'll be intellectually humble. In fact, their multilingualism could be feeding their ego. As always, it's dangerous to assume that an individual fits a group average or stereotype.

In other words, the best way to learn if someone has intellectual humility, is to interact with them, watch them deal with others with different viewpoints, and to get to know their stories. And then look for the above four things when you do.

How do you look for signs of humility in others? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments!

P.S. Want to know how intellectually humble you are? Take a self-assessment here!

Shane Snow is author of Dream Teams and Founder at Large of Contently.