Does humility matter in leadership? Yes it
matters very much in fact without humility there would be no real success in
leadership.
Take for example the many authoritarian
leaders who were eventually overthrown by their people. These leaders showed authoritarian
or iron fisted kind of leadership and they earned success initially. Their people
followed what they want but after a number of years comes resistance and soon this resistance will
snowball. Eventually this would result to the arrogant leader being overthrown
by his people.
This is for the reason that people
normally don’t want arrogant and overbearing leaders. People may tolerate these kind of leaders for a while but eventually limits of patience woulc be reached
and this arrogant leader would soon be overthrown or deposed.
The same is true in an organization setup
no matter what kind or how small the organization. Subordinates will always align
themselves with a humble leader and their motivation would always be high if
they are being lead by a humble leader.
Why is this so? Because this is natural
human behavior, who would want to be lead by an arrogant and overbearing
leader? Nobody! We always want a leader who has humility even if the leader is
strict for as long as he/she has humility this leader will be respected and
accepted by his/her subordinates.
Therefore, humility is one of the most
important ingredients of a successful organizational leader. Just
look at Pope Francis, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Jesus, to name a few.
Do you use humility in your exercise of
leadership? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
