If Humility is So Important - Why Are So Many Leaders So Arrogant?

HUMILITY and empathy are positive traits for any leader.

That said, the current trend for overbearing, arrogant and domineering leaders appears to be on the increase.

It appears that modesty, humility and ‘unpretentiousness’ are on the decline - as brash, aggressive and egotistical leaders are becoming increasingly common.

No one needs to be reminded of how a certain, well-coiffured American leader has been using his lofty position to bully and bluster others over the past couple of years.

But according to leadership expert Bill Taylor writing in a recent Harvard Business Review article, the tendency of some of these arrogant leaders to dominate and control others actually comes from an innate will to win.

This is because such leaders’ overarching ambition to win at all costs stems from a tacit assumption that if they are not winning, then they must be losing.

Indeed, many of these leaders believe life is fundamentally and always a competition - whether it is between companies, or between individuals within companies. 

This is not exactly what you might call a humble attitude.

Fortunately, there is a happy medium available for those leaders who seek ambition along with humility.

This is humility in the service of ambition, which is widely recognised asthe most effective and sustainable mindset for leaders who aspire to do great things.

Otherwise known as ‘humbition’, this form of ambition may be defined as: ‘One part humility and one part ambition’.

The concept was originally put forward by a group of HR professionals at IBM a number of years ago.

It acknowledges the fact that the vast majority of world-changing leaders and luminaries have been humble people who focused on the work itself, rather than on themselves.

Perhaps Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa are good examples of successful, yet humble, leaders in the philanthropic world.

Of course, in today’s world it is the Donald Trumps and Elon Musks that appear to get the most media attention, which is not to say that humbition is still not the best approach.

It is just that, these days, it can be ‘much harder to be humble’ for some leaders, especially when it can be seen as a sign of weakness: with politics and the military both good examples.

Fortunately, while a leader’s arrogance may get them attention, modesty still gets results - and that is why humbition is still the best course of action for most leaders.

Indeed, helping others has been proven over the years to not only enable leaders to retain better relationships with their colleagues and friends, but also to create a more engaged workforce with less employee turnover.

As leadership expert Jeff Boss outlines in a recent Forbes article, such humble leaders are keenly aware of their self-worth, and always happy to share the credit of their successes.

Their ‘can do’ attitude also helps to engender greater loyalty from their staff.

Such leaders also usually possess a constant curiosity to learn new things, along with a driving ambition to be better educated and informed.

They are always happy to learn from others - and never afraid to speak their minds.

A humble leader also realises the best way to improvement is through constructive criticism, and they actively seek feedback from any source.

Lastly, because these leaders are accustomed to putting other people first, they often begin their sentences with ‘you’ rather than ‘I’: thus placing the other person in the forefront, rather than themselves.