There’s an unspoken truth about leadership that’s often lost in the noise of today’s busy world – the more responsibility or power you have as a leader, the greater the need to demonstrate humility in your leadership.
Sure, this might sound counterintuitive. After all, when we imagine a successful person, the typical image that comes to mind is someone who’s confident, decisive, and has all the answers.
But those leaders who create lasting impact do so not through assertiveness, but through a sense of humility.
A good example of this is Allan Mullaly.
I recently spoke with Marshall Goldsmith on my podcast and he told me how Allan is the kind of leader other leaders aspire to be like, and yet he’s the most humble person you’ll ever meet.
And that sense of humility is what made him such a great leader.
So what does it look like to lead with humility? There’s a couple of things we can learn from Mulally’s example:
- Acknowledge your own limitations and mistakes
- Give credit to others for team successes
- Remain open to feedback and new ideas
The truth is what we need to be asking is not whether humility has a place in leadership today, but whether we have the courage to embrace humility as a source of strength in how we choose to lead.