Principle in Brief
Arrogance – an exaggerated sense of your own importance or belief you are better than others – is the enemy of humility. It is a highly destructive trait for individuals and organizations. It blinds people to their limitations and biases them against the contributions of others. Lack of humility is so destructive that Pope Gregory listed pride as one of the Seven Deadly Sins more than 1400 years ago. Arrogance has led to the downfall of many once-successful societies, organizations and individuals.
Humility is the absence of arrogance, not the denial of strength or intelligence. To be humble is to understand and accept yourself as you really are and accept others as they really are. Having an accurate sense of self-worth begins by believing you have inherent value as a person – which has nothing to do with title, status or money – and then discovering your talents and developing them into valued skills. Admitting when you need help, can’t do something well or need to improve is liberating. It frees you to focus on how you can best contribute and allows others to do the same.
Intellectual honesty is closely related to humility. It is dedication to truth and constructively dealing with reality, even when it is painful. Instead of only looking for evidence to support our ideas and views, it is to sincerely seek constructive feedback and strive to see things as they really are, rather than how we wish them to be. This is difficult because even when we ask for criticism, we often want praise. We constructively deal with reality by stopping unprofitable endeavors, being realistic about threats that could harm our business and experimenting to create better results. People who are intellectually honest change their paradigms when those paradigms are holding them back.
Maintaining humility when you’ve been successful is especially challenging. The minute we believe our success is inevitable or feel we are entitled to our success, we’re in serious trouble. True humility is reflected in our willingness to hold ourselves and others accountable for results and behavior consistent with Our Values. We should have high expectations of ourselves and others, willingly admit our mistakes, make corrections when we fall short of these standards and give credit where credit is due.
Understand it Better
The Importance of Humility
Listen as Charles Koch passionately shares ways to practice humility.
Practicing Humility - Unscripted
Listen to leaders talk about the many facets and benefits of practicing humility.
When Humility is Lacking - Unscripted
Hear leaders share examples of how a lack of humility led to poor results, disrespect, and bad decisions.
Examples
Consistently practicing humility is important but also challenging since we all have egos. The following examples illustrate what demonstrating humility and lacking humility can look like.
- Receiving Constructive Feedback
- Receiving Positive Feedback
- Struggling to Get Work Done
Demonstrating Humility
Gia was given feedback that she doesn’t seem to be trying to understand customer expectations and the department’s processes. Instead, she is recreating processes from her previous company. Gia was stunned by the feedback, but after thinking about it, she schedules time with her supervisor and says, “I want to understand more about your feedback. I was simply trying to get off to a good start in this new job, but it’s clear I need to do something differently.”
Lacking Humility (Defensiveness)
Gia was given feedback that she doesn’t seem to be trying to understand customer expectations and the department’s processes. Instead, she is recreating processes from her previous company. Gia was stunned by the feedback and immediately responds by saying, “I guess you don’t understand that in my previous company we had worldclass processes and that’s what this team needs! I’m sure that’s why I was hired.”
Demonstrating Humility
Eric’s supervisor invites him to join the safety committee because he provides valuable comments during shift meetings. Eric responds, “Can you help me understand which of my comments were most helpful and why? That way I can be as helpful as possible to the safety committee.”
Lacking Humility (False Modesty)
Eric’s supervisor invites him to join the safety committee because he provides valuable comments during shift meetings. Eric responds, “Thanks, but I don’t have anything better to offer than anyone else on the team.”
Demonstrating Humility
Claire just became responsible for coordinating a big recruiting event. There are many different tasks to be done, some of which she is good at doing and some she is not. Attention to detail is not a strength of Claire’s, so she talks to her supervisor about delegating registration tracking to Ryka.
Lacking Humility (Foolish Pride)
Claire just became responsible for coordinating a big recruiting event. There are many different tasks to be done, some of which she is good at doing and some she is not. She doesn’t want to admit that she is in over her head, so she works late every night this month to get everything done herself.
Give it a Try
The power of these principles happens through application. There’s no substitute for learning as you apply.
Look at the “contribution motivated” side of Motivations and Behaviors. How does practicing humility relate to being contribution motivated?
Think about experiences in your life where someone lacked humility and it destroyed value or caused missed opportunities. What lessons from those situations can you apply to your work?
- Identify situations where it is difficult to admit your shortcomings. How can you demonstrate humility when you face those situations in the future?
Think of people in your life who are humble. What behaviors do they exhibit?
How would someone who lacks humility struggle to apply other aspects of Principle Based Management?
How is practicing humility different from being meek or weak?
Humility helps us understand and face reality. How is this related to holding ourselves and others accountable?
What are some ways we can hold each other accountable for results and behavior consistent with Our Values?