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Humility is fundamentally an incredibly powerful leadership attribute. Despite that, from Jack Welch to Elon Musk, many celebrated leaders in recent history are not known for displaying humility. Beyond that, our selfie culture seems to promote values that are quite the opposite.

So, why should we as leaders be interested in the virtue of humility? Coming from our last episode about how you will measure your life, I want you to join me on another level of self-reflection and talk about the importance of humility for leaders.

A leader by attraction has a brand that’s associated with positivity and using their power for the good of others. It’s making the conscious choice to put others ahead of yourself. And it all starts with understanding what humility is and how it is applied in the real world in leadership settings. To help you on the path to sheer clarity, today we’re unpacking humility and the misconceptions that often surround it.

On this episode, Mathew and I talk about the connection between a company’s enduring value and its leaders, what humility in leadership looks like, why humility is so hard to define, breaking the misconception that humility is a weakness, how to assess your humility, and so much more!

Stay tuned for next week’s episode where we’ll look at how you can develop your humility as a leader. Until then, share your experiences with us about humility and the leaders you’ve had in your career or your own experiences with incorporating humility into your leadership style. We’d love to hear from you. 

Key Topics:

• The link between a certain type of leadership and the creation of enduring value (1:54)
• The paradoxical qualities of a Level 5 Leader (3:06)
• How a humble leader approaches their team (3:59)
• Why humility is difficult to define (4:34)
• Mathew’s experience with a leader with a great sense of humility (6:55)
• The type of leaders our “selfie culture” focuses on (8:46)
• Well-known leaders who represented the antithesis of humility (9:28)
• Why you need courage to be a humble leader (11:21)
• My definition of humility (12:19)
• The noble choice of humility (12:57)
• How to assess your humility (14:53)
• Building a brand with positivity and humility (16:50)
• Why your brand story is so important (18:09)
• The role of humility in creating this podcast (20:01)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Jim Collins’ Book | Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t
• Level 5 Leadership
• John Dickson’s Book | Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership
• Stephen M.R. Covey’s Book | The SPEED of TRUST: The One Thing That Changes Everything

Click here for a PDF version of the transcript