Can Effective Leaders Be Humble?

Scripture — Philippians 2:3-8 (CEB)

Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus.
Though he was in the form of God,
he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave
and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.

Devotion

In case you missed some of my recent Life for Leaders devotions, allow me to explain the series I’m doing and where we are in that series. In early May, I began a devotional series called Living and Leading for the Good of Others. This series is part of the De Pree Center’s quarterly theme: Seeking the Best for Others. I began by examining portions of 1 Corinthians 10, especially verse 24: “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others” (NIV). Then I moved over to the “Christ Hymn” in Philippians 2. There, we are exhorted to “in humility value others above [ourselves]” (2:3). We do this by following the example of Christ, who took “the very nature of a servant” and “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death” (2:7-8). I have been focusing on this passage from Philippians 2 for several days because, arguably, it has more to teach us about “living and leading for the good of others” than any other single text of the Bible. From Philippians 2, we have learned that Christ-like humility is essential if we are to seek the best for others. Without humility, we’ll be neither inclined nor enabled to prioritize the good of others.

There was a time in the United States when leaders understood this, or at least they communicated as if they did. Two hundred and fifty years ago, it was common for political leaders, for example, to refer to themselves as “humble servants.” George Washington often signed his letters with “Your humble servant” or “Your obedient servant.” Now, this was a literary convention, to be sure, one used by some leaders who were, in fact, neither humble nor obedient. But at least their language underscored the value of humility.

That isn’t true today. I spent some time Googling to see if I could find the phrase “humble servant” used by any recent president. I did find only one case. But in this instance, Barack Obama wasn’t speaking of himself. Rather, he was praising former president George H.W. Bush after he died, writing, “America has lost a patriot and humble servant in George Herbert Walker Bush.” Bush was indeed a humble man, one who rarely talked about himself in speeches (see this TIME story). In general, however, leaders today, in government, business, and other fields, do not seem to prize or practice humility.

But it’s not just leaders who disregard or disdain humility. That’s increasingly true of most of us, no matter our position or power. In his book, The Road to Character, David Brooks explains:

We have seen a broad shift from a culture of humility to the culture of what you might call the Big Me, from a culture that encouraged people to think humbly of themselves to a culture that encouraged people to see themselves as the center of the universe (p. 6).

It’s not just about me, but the Big Me. Yikes!
Of course, social media has made matters even worse. You don’t get a million followers on any tech platform through modesty and understatement, or by seeking what is better for others. Yes, you will see posts on Facebook that begin, “I am humbled,” but these are almost always examples of “humblebrag,” as I noted in last Tuesday’s devotion, drawing from the insights of Harris Wittels in his book Humblebrag: The Art of False Modesty. It seems that if you want to get ahead in life these days, whether adding followers or leading successful organizations, you need to be enthusiastically self-promoting, anything but humble.

What should we do about this? If I’m proposing that we should live and lead for the good of others, and humility is essential for this to happen, what are we to do? If we seek to be humble and focus on the good of others, will we be successful in our leadership? Will we be the kind of leaders that others follow? Will our organizations thrive?

As it turns out, there are highly respected leadership authorities who argue that humility is a necessary aspect of effective and successful leadership in today’s world. For example, consider the case of Edgar and Peter Schein. Edgar was for years a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His work on organizational development and culture has been widely influential. Edgar’s son, Peter, has excelled in business leadership and consulting. Together, they wrote the book Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust (now in its second edition). They explain that humble leadership is not about weakness or passivity. Rather, it’s practicing “situational humility,” which is:

A developed skill characterized by the openness to see and understand all the elements of a situation by:
1. accepting uncertainty, while remaining curious to find out what is really going on,
2. being open, intentionally and mindfully, to what others may know or observe, and
3. recognizing when unconscious biases can distort perceptions and trigger emotional responses (p. 8).

They especially emphasize the importance of “being open” to others and learning from them. This requires developing “whole-person relationships” in the workplace, relationships “built on trust and personalization, as seen in friendships and in effective, collaborative teams” (p. 15). According to the Scheins, in our time of history, with so much uncertainty and with the need for so much information, successful leaders must be humble enough to depend on others, including those whom they lead and/or manage.

In tomorrow’s devotion, I want to explore one crucial dimension of “humble leadership.” For now, though, let me encourage you to reflect on your own leadership, whether at work, in your family, at church, or in the community.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Imitating Christ’s Humility .