Should I be a Humble Leader?
Humility - the quality of being humble - is all the rage just now.
Particularly for leaders:
"Why humility is now the most important leadership characteristic"
"At work, as in life, grace and humility are key"
"...components of interpersonal allyship include humility" (what does that even mean?)
Really?
Let's look at what the word means:
"lowness, small stature; insignificance; baseness, littleness of mind,"
Do you want to be a lowly, insignificant leader with a small stature and mind? I thought not.
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Now, I'm well aware that the word is not generally used in this context - it's meant to be a counter-balance to arrogance, superiority, status and dominance, none of which are desirable in leadership or anywhere else.
But the problem is that the other end of the spectrum, I would argue, is just as dysfunctional.
Humility, humbleness, is as much an ego-based character trait as is contemptuous self-importance. Both are as bad as each other - in different ways - simply because they deny the truth of who you are.
The reality is that all of us have innate value and worth, and to both inflate it or deny it is to besmirch it.
Why do you suppose that one of the most successful advertising slogans of the past 50 years is: "... because you're worth it." I would suggest it's because it reminds us of our true nature - we are all worth it. What is the point of pretending anything else, to yourself or the world?
Can you name one great leader who persistently downplays the value they bring to the people they lead?
Finally, you may be familiar with characters that display their humility as an ingratiating, simpering and obsequious quality, brilliantly depicted by Charles Dickens as the "ever so 'umble" Uriah Heep. Not the best role-model for aspiring leaders.
Or as Golda Meir put it: Don't be so humble; you're not that great.
Humility is fundamentally dishonest. So don't be a humble leader - just be you.