Where Are The Humble Leaders?
Humility is almost always perceived as a weakness in leaders. Here’s why it can be your biggest strength.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, there was one experience most leaders in business and politics around the world had in common. Regardless of their relative strengths, networks, and resources there was one thing they shared — no one knew the answers to the questions. No one knew what would happen with the virus, the best ways to mitigate it, or the total potential impacts to come on lives and livelihoods.
What most leaders did, in turn, was work to suppress this fact. There’s a reason for this, which runs into our very human nature. Humility implies a lack of tools and skills to succeed, and, at times of the greatest uncertainty, it can seem to stoke fear and unrest.
But there is a subtle, under acknowledged strength to the admission of not having all of the answers. What Covid-19 has brought to the fore is that humility, when expressed genuinely, can help bolster successful policies where the more common response (inflated senses of authority) often fall short.
1. Humility can bring the focus away from the individual, and draw strength from the collective
When the pandemic hit, most world leaders, for example, needed to rely heavily on scientific advisors to explain the critical details and implications of their policy choices. This can be antithetical to a leader’s instinct (to exude absolute confidence and authority in their individual understandings of the issues), but research indicates that traits associated with humility in leadership can generate better teamwork and improved outcomes among direct reports, making the work collectively delivered more effective and impactful. These values can also encourage leaders to turn to external experts more often, maintaining stronger teams and networks and allowing for more substantial consultation and input, and, ultimately more effective and impactful solutions.
2. Humility can model good behaviour and elicit more effective responses
In the early days of Covid-19, health experts were slammed for what was deemed ‘confusing guidance’ on mask wearing, a critical misstep which has had long-lasting detrimental impacts on public trust and behaviours. Authorities today have admitted that their initial guidance not to advise mass mask-wearing among general publics was based on an incomplete understanding of the virus and global supply chains. Had leaders combined these early cautions about mask wearing with a complete picture of what was still unknown about the virus, there may have been greater buy-in from publics for critical future policy decisions (such as today’s somewhat spotty mask mandates). Approaching these critical decisions with thoughtful humility in the first instance could have potentially saved lives.
3. Humility can inspire those aspiring to power to seek realistic routes to success, rather than relying on bluster
All too often, routes to leadership roles can fail to account for the traits which are most important in a leader. Despite widespread evidence on imposter syndrome and gender bias, most of the routes to leadership today promote the traits which disincentive humility in order to reach success — at the most harmful extreme, this can lead to rivalry and dishonesty in the professional environment, or a form of mutually-assured destruction. Instead, leaders can model alternative behaviours that flip the script on what it can look like to aspire to leadership and how success metrics are envisioned, which can in turn have positive impacts on workplace ecosystems.
4. Humility can temper responses and avoid the errors of over-confidence and which can lead to grave mistakes
Uruguay’s former President Jose Mujica is known as one of the world’s most humble presidents. Among his unique style was the desire not to go by honorifics like ‘Mr. President’ — instead, he simply preferred for his people to call him ‘Pepe’. But he still managed to succeed in many policies one would assume strong leadership was critical to ensuring, such as bringing the population living below the poverty line down from 39% to 11%. Conversely, evidence indicates that one of the reasons that many CEOs stumble early on is due to misplaced (or ‘over’) confidence. Leaders that focus too much on exuding a sense of confidence and authority can undercut their ability to succeed, by over-investing in desired routes to success and failing to account for inevitable mistakes that will come with any decision-making role. No one can get everything right, and the ones who admit this can often more easily come back from poor decisions and course correct when things go wrong.
5. Humility should not be confused with indecisiveness
Traits associated with humility are sometimes perceived as antithetical to the requirements of strong, decisive action among leaders. But as New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has been praised for her response to Covid-19 has noted, ‘political leaders can be both empathetic and strong.’ When leaders are able to make quick decisions, and follow their best instincts, while also being honest about the limitations of their knowledge, they are often seen as most authentic, which can, in turn, inspire trust and authority. Humble leaders can also be prepared to admit when they are wrong, and be honest in times where tradeoffs need to be made or when fast-paced decisions must be made under conditions of imperfect information.
The benefits of humility are perhaps more powerful than ever in a world shaped by unprecedented global challenges. Today in our new normal hit by crises, from 9/11, to the 2007/8 recession, to the Covid pandemic, many of us recognize the limitations of economic and political forecasting, and the importance of adaptation in an ever-changing world and climate. Leaning into our collective and individual humility may just be the strongest way we can respond to the next grave challenge we will inevitably face.
