Modesty & Humility in Business

Modesty and Humility are probably the most used expressions in today’s multinational business environment. Leaders are expected to demonstrate modesty and humility towards their internal and external stakeholders and as a result of the same, organisations are ranked as “most preferred place to work”.

To begin with, modesty and humility are ways that we relate to ourselves, to our own goodness and limitations. It involves placing ourselves among others and in the world at large. Immodest people have, among other things, an inflated ego, their accomplishments, and their place in the society.

A 2018 investigative article published in The New York Times found that only 15% of people possess humility. That means for every 10 CEOs, only one will exude humility, yet being humble may be the secret to succeeding in business.

How to bring in a culture of humility?

Humble workplace cultures always embrace honesty, experimentation, and learning that lead to success. What qualities should we be looking for in our leaders that will prevent fear and promote confidence and respect at workplace? Let’s review the following pointers:

1. Induce Clarity of Purpose

Many companies often fall into the trap of overinflating their strengths and underestimating their weaknesses, which can lead to poor management decisions and even organizational failure. The norm of clarity of purpose refers to the organization and its employees making non-biased, clear-headed assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of themselves and others.

To cultivate a norm of accurate awareness, your company should help employees understand your mission statement and perform regular SWOT analyses: assessments of the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. As a result, you’ll be in a better position to hire candidates who perform well in those areas of weakness, and to develop and train employees to fill the gaps.

2. Create an authentic, open culture

Some organizations continue to beat around the bush about their so called “Institutional Memory and Practices”. They tend to believe that internal ideas and operations are superior to external ones. This causes organizations to dismiss any ideas that are not familiar or similar to their own, regardless of their merit, in favor of internally developed solutions that further the status quo.

Can it be tough to adopt a humble attitude when it seems like the world runs on narcissism and naked displays of power? Of course. Nevertheless, when you practice humility as part of your leadership toolkit, you and your business will go much farther. And you’ll like the person in the mirror for all the right reasons.

3. Earn Loyalty

Despite research showing that empathy from leaders is needed in modern work life. A Forbes article outlines how humble managers, known for their empathetic leanings, earn workers’ loyalty.

Humility and empathy go hand-in-hand. Both characteristics demonstrate a desire to listen to others and care about people on a human level. If you’re faced with constant turnover and aren’t sure of the cause, a conscious effort to further develop your own humility and modesty might stop the revolving door. Show your employees they matter to you and that because of them, you are their manager today.

4. Learn from anyone, everyone

Some corporate leaders develop a playbook and stick to it. For them, business strategy is more a matter of repetition than imagination. When they are asked to address employees, they simply switch on their playbook repeat a few jargons that they learnt in their college or university days and play the same tape every single time. Remember, one of the initial scenes from the movie 3 Idiots where the young helper remembered most of the Dean’s speech when he addresses the first gathering of the new students. That’s a huge mistake, especially in an era when changes in the business landscape can happen overnight.

Leaders who think and act as if they know everything put themselves and their companies at risk of sinking. In contrast, leaders who exhibit humility know when to pivot hard and make some of the hardest decisions in the process.

5. Allow people to make mistakes

Some companies strive for perfection and error-free work, creating an environment where employees are afraid to improve the status quo because they don’t want to fail and be blamed. But another thing that humble organizational cultures have in common is the norm of tolerating competent mistakes: mistakes that result from novel ideas and not from flawed execution. Embracing these kinds of mistakes can help ensure that effective learning takes place.

Accenture, a global tech giant, frequently holds events for employees to discuss creative solutions to current technological problems. The solutions may not always work, but making strategically intelligent mistakes is an integral part of the innovation process. Same goes for rest of the startups and growing business. Let’s continue to encourage people to make intelligent mistakes and allow them to learn from those.

Last Word

In short, humble leadership is characterized by a willingness to see the ‘self’ accurately, an appreciation of the strengths and contributions of others, and openness to advice and feedback.

Research suggests that humble people are more generous and helpful and humble leaders may engage employees more and help teams be more integrated. Humble leaders aren’t meek or unable to make tough decisions — in fact, we see humility as the midpoint between the two extremes of arrogance and lack of self-esteem.

Learn how sometimes smaller things in our lives make huge impact and you can take some learnings on a personal and professional level by following me on LinkedIn and on our official website. Also follow us on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Medium, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Muhammad Sajwani is the Founder, Managing Director and Principal Consultant at Evolve HR which aims at transforming, enriching and evolving Human Capital of Pakistan. At Evolve HR, him and his team thrives in challenging assumptions that hinder organisational aspirations, by creating innovative solutions that yield maximum impact, scalability & benefit to a wider base of stakeholders. As a Business Coach and Organisational Consultant, Sajwani knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.