Positive Principles Newsletter
August 2006
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“Humility is not
thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”
– Rick Warren,
The Purpose Driven Life
“Pride ends in
humiliation, while humility brings honor.”
– Proverbs 29:23 (NLT)
“[Good-to-great]
leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will.
They are ambitious, to be sure, but ambitious first and foremost for the
company, not themselves.”
– Jim Collins,
Good to Great
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This month's tip – Keep
a humble attitude.
Truly excellent leaders exhibit great personal humility. While conducting
the research for Good to Great, Jim Collins found that leaders of
every organization that made the move from good to great displayed personal
humility. Yet, backed by this research data, writing on this topic still
makes me nervous. Writing on the topic of humility seems to imply a lack of
it. However, something that happened recently reminded me of its importance.
Last week, I worked with my friends and partners at Personality Insights in
Atlanta as one of the presenters for a train-the-trainer seminar. The class
was full of information hungry, motivated learners. We had a great time, and
the class became a close-knit circle of friends during our three days
together.
After the third day, one participant came forward to thank each of the
presenters (there where three of us) for being “real” during the training.
This person has worked in and around the seminar industry for about twenty
years, and he said that he has seen many “phony” speakers in that time. He
said that he appreciated how each of us shared ourselves during the
training. He was moved more by the authenticity of the presentation than he
was by the clarity of the logic. Apparently, we touched his heart at least
as much as we touched his mind.
As a speaker, trainer, consultant, and coach; people often come to me for
advice, perspective, and counsel on a wide variety of issues. They primarily
come for advice in the areas of leadership, team dynamics, and
management/supervisory decisions. Sometimes, they come for help on family
and personal relationship matters. Whatever their main concern, they always
come seeking “expert” advice.
Given the nature of these discussions, I could easily develop a “big-head”
about my wisdom and expertise. Fortunately, I have a wife and two children
who help me to stay humble. Every day, I work to apply the principles of
leadership, team work, effective communication, and relationship dynamics
with the people closest to me. I can best describe the results of these
efforts by paraphrasing my mentor, Dr. Robert Rohm; “sometimes I win,
sometimes I learn.”
These daily efforts to “practice what I preach,” the successes and the
failures, become the stories and illustrations I use as a coach and trainer.
By relating my experiences, I hope to share what I have learned as I work to
apply, in the real world, what theory and research studies reveal about
relationships and human nature.
My colleagues and I did not set out to consciously display a humble attitude
in our presentation, but the gentleman I mentioned above relayed back to us
that he detected one nonetheless. Through his experience, he confirmed that
our personal stories of both success and failure built a bridge between us.
Genuinely admitting both your strengths and your short-comings reveals a
level of humility that forms the foundation for effective leadership. People
follow leaders who touch the heart. A leader’s personal humility opens the
door to the heart so that people not only hear the message communicated to
the mind but also feel the message communicated to the heart.
So for now, I encourage you to remember this month's tip . . .
Keep a humble attitude.
Have a great day,
Guy Harris
The Recovering Engineer
