The Missing Word

Rhetoric promoting certain personal and management qualities such as honestly, empathy, fairness is fine and should be accepted and celebrated. I want to add one quality that never seems to make the cut, and in my mind, based on 52 years of experience, is one of the most vital, and sadly, in short supply.

?It’s humility.

Humility isn’t simply modesty. It’s much more.

Humility offsets complacency, which kills productivity, creativity and openness to new ideas.

Humility tempers ego, which is different from confidence. Ego is the concept of thinking your performance is better than it really is, or that you’re superior to your peers, which also translates to arrogance. ?

Humility brings you down to Earth so you have a more accurate and well-considered perspective on your role in the whole enterprise and what you need to do to contribute to it in a valuable manner.

Humility provides the runway towards improvement. There’s no better example of it than Lions coach Dan Campbell. Even as the team enjoyed an historic year, Dan eschewed self-congratulation and shared credit for victories with his players and staff. When the team lost, he owned responsibility, never deflecting it when that would have been the easy, although, obnoxious path, and set a course for improvement for next game, season and beyond.

Indeed, regarding humility Hall of Fame basketball coach Rick Pitino declared, “Humility is the true key to success. Successful people lose their way at times. They often embrace and overindulge from the fruits of success. Humility halts this arrogance and self-indulging trap. Humble people share the credit and wealth, remaining focused and hungry to continue the journey of success.”

But Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler may have framed humility best in many fewer words, espousing, “Humility is really important because it keeps you fresh and new"

I’ll just add, if you let everything go to your head, you risk coming out looking like an ass.

Stay fresh and new, humble and hungry