Humility

The Invaluable Leadership Quality

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There is one leadership characteristic that is seldom noticed, and rarely celebrated. And yet it stands alone among leadership qualities, as invaluable as it is scarce. Humility. What makes humility distinct is that it is most apparent when it is absent, when it is not exhibited; its impact more evident not when it is present, but instead, when it’s not. Humility is often overlooked as a vital leadership quality because it sometimes gets confused with a lack of …

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You Can Do Everything Right as a Leader and Still Fail!

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If you’re an experienced leader, then you’re already aware of this reality. You’ve learned how it feels to be squeezed between grand expectations and constraints you cannot overcome.  Sometimes, despite your best intentions and efforts, you don’t succeed. But failure is a better teacher than success, and when you stumble as a leader, there’s one most important lesson to recall. Negative experiences are humbling. Failure resets your attitude, opening your mind to change and to …

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Humility And Hubris

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A recent article in Harvard Business Review (by John Dame and Jeffrey Gedmin: 11:00 AM September 9, 2013) spoke of executive humility. They suggest several points of effectiveness to achieve a humility posture: Resist falling for your own publicity. Never underestimate the competition. Embrace and promote a spirit of service. Listen, even (no, especially) to the weird ideas. Be passionately curious. Hubris is just the opposite: It conforms to our individualism, narcissism, pride of position …

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