29 Oct The Most Important Leadership Quality
I was recently interviewed at a conference, and they asked, “What one quality matters most for effective leadership?” One word rolled off my tongue – Humility!
I’ve been thinking lately about the importance of Humility as a leadership competence. We normally think of Humility in terms of ego, arrogance and not being too full of oneself. While that matters, I think of Humility in leadership as being more about not getting wed to your ideas, being curious and open. The word Humility comes from the Latin root “humus”, meaning “ground” or “earth,” implying a sense of being grounded or close to the earth.
Lately my keynotes to Leaders have emphasized this quality of Humility and Curiosity as key attributes of effective leaders and organizations. Beware of the leader who says they have all the answers or even worse, thinks they have all the answers. There’s a pretty good chance they don’t have them and even worse, won’t likely surround themselves with people and ideas that challenge their way of thinking.
So how does Humility and its first cousin Curiosity show up for us as leaders?
-Be curious about feedback whether it is from your people, your customers and even your detractors. Instead of defending, lean in and listen deeply.
-Invite people to challenge your ideas and how you see things. Create an environment where challenging each other’s ideas is part of everyone’s job.
-Be self-aware. Just this week I had lunch with a colleague who was telling me how her CEO and COO see themselves as Open and Positive whereas their reports see them as the opposite. It reminded me of a guy I met on a plane years ago who was uber negative. When he asked what I did for a living I laid it on thick saying, “I teach people to be positive and optimistic and how being that way changes everything”. He responded: “It’s so nice to meet a guy who thinks like me!” I think self-awareness is a key part of curiosity and humility-wondering always where there is a disconnect between our walk and our self-perception.
-Finally, humility shows up when we assume we can learn something from others. That means being curious about what other companies do better than we do, curious about what other leaders are doing that we can learn from, and being curious about our blind spots.
A final note. A friend just returned from South Africa and said he was struck by the presence of tributes and statues of Nelson Mandela. Mandela once said: “The first thing for a leader is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact if you have not changed yourself. Greatness comes from being people of integrity, honesty and humility.”
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