The Greatest Trait of Any Business Leader
If you don’t have it, you may want to learn
When you’re a business owner, especially one who oversees dozens of employees, it’s incredibly easy to get a big head. Most people will blindly listen to what you say or command. Potential vendors bang down your door or blow up your phone begging to get your business. People submit resumes and do everything they can to convince you to provide them with a job. Why, yes, I am the smartest and hardest-working person in the building, thank you!
Sorry, see what I mean?
Ask anyone who has ever worked in a corporate environment for some mid-level manager: arrogance is one of the worst traits someone can have in the working world, especially when they are tasked at leading any number of people. Anyone who thinks that they know everything often ends up taking their business down with them over the course of time.
Humility, on the other hand, is perhaps the most important trait anyone can exhibit as a leader.1 There is an inordinate amount of research that supports the idea that humility is perhaps the best predictor of success in business leadership. Bear with me as I run through a string of it so as to overwhelm you with my point.
One article reported on multiple studies that found “humble leaders inspire better work environments, foster greater collaboration, and maintain more successful businesses.” Those same studies showed that people in the workplace are much happier when the leader is humble. Another article discussed multiple studies showing that humbler and more empathetic managers earn greater loyalty from those around them. And yet another study determined that “humble people tend to make the most effective leaders and are more likely to be high performers in both individual and team settings.” The examples out there are truly endless.
Let’s dig even deeper, into some scientific articles that support this idea. In 2020, the Academy of Management Journal published a study by Laurent and Ivana Vitanova that found early-stage investors viewed an entrepreneur as more likely to be successful if they displayed humility. They also found that this humility made these leaders more compatible with investors and others. Waldman and Peterson (2015) published a study in the Journal of Management that found “CEOs high in humility were associated with a number of positive executive leadership team outcomes and ultimately firm performance.” Humility in a CEO also led to better team integration, lower pay disparity, a more flexible strategic operation, and more. Chatterjee and Hambrick (2007) found that narcissistic CEOs make way more extravagant bets and bad decisions than those who have a more humble personality. One could easily extrapolate that a business with a humble owner is less likely to fail in the long-term.
Even one of our Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, understood its complexity, albeit in his witty, snarky fashion that always makes me proud to be a Philadelphian:
“I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it. There is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride; disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive and will every now and then peep out and show itself…For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I would probably be proud of my humility.”
There are a great number of business leaders that are either unable or afraid to show humility. Sometimes this is subconscious (often a sign of low self-esteem or insecurity), other times it is intentional (a desire not to look “weak”). Somehow, humility, acknowledging error, or admitting failure have developed a bad rap among those – usually men – who want to look strong and decisive. And most people will happily tell you that they make mistakes all the time. But there’s a difference between feigning humility in general and displaying it in the moment it is needed. “Yeah, I make mistakes” is drastically different than “I really screwed up this time, I need to be better.” It’s a fine line, but it’s pretty noticeable from the outside.
There’s also a big difference between pride and arrogance. All of us should be incredibly proud of our businesses, our accomplishments, and even ourselves. Saying “I’m the best” is arrogance. Saying “I think I handled that situation really well” is pride. Part of humility is also the understanding that it’s not just your “brilliance” that got you to where you are. More often than not, it was due to circumstance, the help of others, and sometimes just plain ol’ luck.
The biggest key to humility to me is the sincere desire to continue to improve yourself and your business. If you aren’t humble, you will never believe there is a need to improve in the first place. After all, if you’re perfect, there’s nothing to work on. This requires incredible self-awareness as well, which can often be difficult.2
I remember early on in my management career, when I was running my first company, my dad (who had been running the family business for decades) came to my building to help my staff out on a busy day. He noticed that I was doing one of the jobs differently than others were. He pulled me aside subtly and asked why. I don’t recall my answer exactly. But I do remember his response to this day: “If you don’t follow the rules,” he said quietly, “How do you expect them to?” It was one of the greatest business lessons I’ve ever received. My error was completely unintentional, but by doing things my own way and expecting others to do it the correct way, I was displaying arrogance and the subconscious feeling that I was above everyone else. That’s not a good way to run a business. Being willing to follow even the smallest rule is incredibly humbling and powerful when you’re the one in charge.
“As leaders, we often regard admitting mistakes as a sign of weakness,” writes Aaron Orendorff. “In truth, it’s an admirable act of grace, generosity, and gumption.” Think about this from the other side – when was the last time someone admitted a mistake to you and your response was, “Wow, what a weak, stupid person?” More than likely, never. Yet, so many of us believe that our humility will be viewed as weak or an indictment of our abilities. It’s human nature to believe that everyone looks at ourselves differently than we would look at them. And that show of humility will often garner you greater respect among those that work for you. “Accepting that you did something wrong or that you don't know everything, forgoes ego for the sake of personal development and business growth,” Orendorff continues. “Asking for help not only displays a willingness to learn but empowers others to shine. Moreover, it builds trust. Acknowledging a slipup today prevents it from swelling into an insurmountable challenge tomorrow.”
When you’re running a business, it’s absolutely crucial not to let your ego get in the way, as hard as that may be. When you’re running a business, ego is irrelevant. No one cares how good you are. The only thing that matters is the success of the business. And if the business can only exist because of what you do? More than likely, you don’t really have a well-run business. You have a one man show.
Take some time regularly and make sure you’re being humble in your day-to-day work. Be selfless, put someone ahead of you, admit mistakes, accept failure. Utilize all of that to improve upon yourself each day. Those around you will notice it immediately, will show you more respect, and will work harder to help you achieve your goals.
And not just in business.
Interestingly, humility has a similarity to narcissism, in that it is almost impossible to self-assess it – it has to be assessed by others. Like Ben Franklin suggested, you can’t just look at someone and say, “I’m as humble as they come!” That kind of defeats the purpose. Similarly, there is almost no one that can honestly say, “Yeah, I’m pretty narcissistic, I only think about the world in terms of how it affects me.” The personality trait is in the eye of the recipient.