Humility is always a great quality

Firstly, no one knows it all. Secondly, to show that you know it all is fake and that does not inspire followers. Lastly, it shows that you can’t learn and you are already stagnant by definition. Who wants to follow a status quo leader? Humility is most important to leadership. It’s not about being humble or nice. It is about accepting that we are not perfect. But that means that we have room for improvement. It is important for leaders to show that they are on this journey of self-improvement. Being someone who is a learn-it-all is inspiring than a someone who is a know-it-all. Someone who is wiling to improve.

It is more than being polite or nice. Humility is an inspiring trait that shows us that we can be better. A humbled person becomes a respected person because they are unoffensive. When wisdom, likability and genuine concern is present along with skillful direction, then such a person will become a natural and good leader. Many managers of people fail to gain respect due to being offensive, disrespectful and power wielding. A work force led by such a manager will be far less motivated to comply to requests wholeheartedly as opposed to a respected and wise manager. Humans are emotional creatures.

They are often prone mentally to intolerance, bias, resentment and negativity. When a work force has a regular feed of reasons for these attributes to be triggered, i.e.; a bad manager/supervisor/boss, then that workforce will be determined as a collective to work under recognised duress. Productivity in these cases cannot be optimised. (where free will is prevalent.)

A good manager’s rational fear isn’t that s/he will give instructions that aren’t followed. It’s that s/he will give instructions in ignorance of some important factor that affects the situation s/he seeks to manage. Deep, wide, current information and a rigorous analytical process are the lifeblood of a good decision. And, a good decision is the only thing that can lead to a good delegation of responsibility. Just free-associating, here are some areas where I’ve never found any substitute for humility: Humility before the facts you think you know.

It ain’t so much the things we know gets us in trouble. It’s the things we know…that ain’t so! —American cowboy humorist Will Rogers. Don’t let your adrenaline keep you from finding out something important at the earliest possible time. Humility before what you may not know. A statement about “unknown unknowns” brought Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld buckets of ridicule and derision. Why say the same thing twice? Either it’s unknown or it’s known. Unknown-unknowns are facts that you didn’t even know were there but that affect something of importance to you. Humility before your colleagues’ knowledge and analytical skill.

Do not hear what I am not saying. Humility is a good trait but, as with all EQ aspects, it needs to be managed. A good manager wears many faces. Some of them not always viewed as desirable at all times. The skill of s manager is to manage those faces. The question groups manager and leader. These have different attributes though. It is true there are far too many managers who should not be managers or, more correctly, they have not be trained be managers. Often promoted from the ranks they will keep the traits they thought resulted in promotion. (Those who thought they should have been promoted will often focus on the negative aspects of any personality trait.)

If brought from outside they feel a need to establish themselves if there are insecurities or a less than open welcome. People with real self-awareness are rare in this world and people with self-control are even rarer. Being aware of ego, and being in control of one’s ego are admirable traits that are not really taught anywhere explicitly (yet). Humility in leaders fosters morale, integrity, trust, and many other amazing things to have as an organization.

Because when combined with skillful execution and/or high work-ethic, it’s the key element to build trust amongst others within a shared enterprise. It provides a relational ground of transparency for others to express who they are, which includes strengths and weaknesses, as by default, an attitude of humility is an attitude of receptivity or even resignation, that actually requires a tremendous amount of power (character) to achieve. That power is the other thing that humility conveys, this solidity of character that many folks find attractive and welcoming.

They know that they’re not dealing with a shifty person for whom feeling-out-for-their-mood has to become an extra burden to add to the regular task of just relating to people in general. So yeah, humility is key. Maybe sometimes easy to not appreciate or laud, but again, when combined with a confident solutioning or execution focus that sees things to the end, very compelling and valuable for any endeavour I think. Cheers!