Then Francis raised his eyes to heaven, knelt in praise to God and responded, "He chose me because He could find none more worthless, and He wished to confound the nobility and grandeur, the strength, the beauty and learning of this world."
Leadership is Humility
Deep inside each of us lurks an incideous craving. A hunger to feel important. A false belief that we need to be "great" to matter. We long for approval and reassurance. How many 'likes' did I get on my post? How many mentions did I get on my tweet? Did I catch a glimpse of admiration in someone else's eye. Did they stop and pay homage when I spoke?
In Good to Great, Jim Collins empirically connects humility to great leadership. He argues that the great organizations researched all had a Level 5 Leader who had genuine personal humility blended with an intense professional will. These leaders simply lacked pretense. They weren't larger than life and they weren't absorbed with their own personal scorecard. Their focus was bigger than themselves and far greater than there personal appetite for notice and approval.
Growing in humility is hard. I mean we even wake up thinking about is ourselves. How am I today? What cravings can I satisfy quickly (food, coffee). But true leadership requires that we grow in this area. And growth and change is possible. Here are a few ideas to get started.
1. Admit that you have a pride problem - own it. "Hi, my name is _______ and I like to be noticed and long for approval. Even better, say it out loud. A bit awkward, but you're already moving in the right direction....unless you just counted how many approving glances you got around your office.
2. Resist the urge. The urge to be noticed for your greatness. The urge to check how many times your post was "liked" or "retweeted." Resist the urge to make conversations about you. Your achievements. Your brilliance. How many goals your child scored during the past weekend. (Ouch, that one hurt a bit).
3. Engage others. Who are they? What really matters to them. What do they think? What do they feel? So often we don't listen with the intent to understand, we listen with the intent to reply. We are either speaking or preparing to speak.
Engage people regardless of rank, title, or their perceived importance to you. I once worked (paste tense - worked) in an organization where the CFO would walk right past me, pretending to ignore my very existence. It's ok, smile at people when you walk past, maybe even say "hi." Humility believes that I can learn from anyone and everyone has value.
4. Serve others vs. seeking to be served. One of the hardest parts of being a servant is being treated like one. You'll know real quick how well you're growing in humility when someone looks down on you and your acts of kindness to them or when they blow you off as if your service was expected.
5. Give credit to others. When someone has a great idea or makes you or the team look good, give them the credit for it. Take no glory for yourself. Credit quickly goes to our heads. It puffs us up and we start thinking, "yeah, I did do that. I am pretty impressive." Just stop.
6. Refuse false humility. This is simply annoying. It isn't genuine and everyone knows it. In reality, what we're really saying is, "please tell me I'm wrong. Tell me how special I am." Genuine humility is something different entirely.
7. Seek a greater vision. When you focus is on your navel, the only thing you see in lint. It's a big world out there. True humility is when we remove our gaze from our belly and focus our heart, our energy, our ambition, and our desires on things outside ourselves and are truly greater than ourselves.
It was once said of Abraham Lincoln, that he was a "peaceful, quiet, shy figure." But never for a second doubt his ability to lead or the power his personal humility had on the fate of a nation.
The secret and powerful influence for Francis of Assisi wasn't his amazing personality. It was his humility.
When John the Baptist was asked, "Are you the Messiah?" (The longed for Savior) He responded, "I am not" Nor am I.
Other Related Posts
The Seven Traits of Leadership
Leadership is Discipleship
Leadership Starts with Character
Key Sources:
Spiritual Leadership, Oswald Sanders
Good to Great, Jim Collins
