Attitude of Humility

When we talk about business/start-ups, traits like confidence, integrity, optimism, passion etc. are de rigueur, however speaking of HUMILITY is sporadic, leave aside the implementation. But what has humility to do with a business or a start-up? Isn’t this term equated with being meek, under-confident and indecisive? No this is absolutely false. Humility is a leadership trait that can help a business in sewing patches during the rough times. An attitude of humility facilitates open-minded thinking, improved introspective listening and effective collaboration—which further allows for critical analysis and innovative rationalizing.

Not intending to sound cynical and fatalistic, but we live in an aeon of narcissism+ amour-propre mindset + self-referential attitude. Conversely the research tells a different story. Jim Collins, in his study and his bestseller Good to Great, talks about Level 5 leadership that catalyst the good to great business transformations. A level 5 leader is an individual who combines personal humility with strong professional determination.

According to another research study conducted on the effectiveness and potential of HUMILITY in workplace, it is evident that possessing HUMILTY as a trait can provide a competitive edge to leaders and their organization. Prof.  Michael Johnson, of University of Washington Foster School of Business researched that, humble people tend to make the most effective leaders (focus on the most) and are more likely to be distinguished performers in both individual and team settings. C.S. Lewis has just perfectly put it: humility as not “thinking less of your self,” but “thinking of yourself less.” 

Humility can be manifested as a single doorway entry to achieving expertise at critical primary emotions such as thinking, listening, empathising, collaborating, synergizing etc. This directly expedites emotional engagement which is imperative to the process of innovation, entrepreneurship and business building,

A standard leadership model is interrelated structure of work skills, people skills, and self skills, humility can be considered to be the core of the model. It can be viewed as the base component of leadership approach which involves- listening to others, being self aware, being transparent in work methods, appreciating peers and co-workers etc.

When humility becomes the core, you work on altogether a higher dimension of analysing, learning, practising, and winning.