Leadership 101 – Part 8 – Humility
Love
Example
Accountable
Discipline
Equip
Respectable
Servant
Humility
Augustine thought that humility is rather important. “Humility,” he said, “is the foundation of all the other virtues; hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.” In other words, if we’re not humble, there’s nothing genuine about the rest of our character. Strong words!
J. Oswald Sanders agrees. “Humility is the hallmark of the spiritual leader. A leader’s humility should grow with the passing of years, like other attitudes and qualities.”
So what does God’s Word have to say about it? A lot… but that shouldn’t surprise anyone!
Want honor? Be humble. “Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.” (Proverbs 18:12)
Want God’s favor? Be humble. “The reward for humility and the fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” (Proverbs 22:4)
Want to be like the apostle Paul? Be humble. “I am less than the least of all God’s people.” (Ephesians 3:8)
Want great Christian community? Be humble. “Do nothing from rivalry or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)
Want to dress for success? Be humble. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…”
So there it is. Humility. The virtue of virtues. The trademark characteristic of the spiritual leader. The antithesis of my nature. The epitomy of Christ.
God help us grow in this ever-important quality. Amen.
I_____
P_____
GREG … you sound like a man educated at Moody and experienced in the world of Christian music. (ha)
I enjoyed all the insights of your devotionals and even stole of few items for myself along the way !
… mike
Greg,
I appreciated the different thoughts you’ve shared on humility. I’m not sure if this would be of any value to your readers, but we spend the last three years researching and writing on the topic of ego and humility in business. We’re posting currently on the topic a few times a week until our book, egonomics, releaes in September.
From a business perspective, even when humility gets a positive spin in the business press, the apparent risks aren’t far behind. For instance, in an article for The New York Post titled “Iger’s apparent humility seen as strength,” the opening starts positive, but ends with a warning. Peter Lauria wrote this in the New York Post, “You can say this much for Disney CEO Bob Iger, he doesn’t seem to mind sharing the limelight. This time around, however, it could end up costing the 54-year-old executive his job. While Iger’s bold move to cede Steve Jobs both a Disney board seat—and the largest individual stock stake in the company—underscores precisely how far removed the Mouse House is from Michael “Ego” Eisner’s reign, it also places Jobs in a position to easily usurp Iger’s authority.”
Praise of Iger’s humility is quickly followed by the looming threat of unemployment. If humility puts us at risk, it’s no wonder we feel it belongs more in a church than a corporation. Not surprisingly, we don’t find many people consciously focused on cultivating humility. Occasionally people in the classes we teach fold their arms and stare sternly as we begin the discussion on humility as if to say, “Go ahead and try.” After all, business is anything but an altruistic endeavor, and at first glance, humility appears to be altruistic. A business leader at one of our workshops raised his hand and said, “I’ve been taught my whole life to embrace ego. My parents drove it into me from the time I can remember. I’ve been taught—by just about everyone I know—that’s how you succeed, that’s how you lead, that’s how you beat your competitors.”
“Then why give it up?” someone asked. “You’re young, the head of your own company, financially successful. What you’ve been taught seems to have worked for you.” After a long silence, the CEO spoke. “Because in sitting here over the last three hours, I realize I’ve been out of balance with my ego,” he said. “My mind’s racing back to different situations I’ve been in and it’s killing me to think about the opportunities it has cost me. In spite of what I’ve achieved, my ego has hurt me as much as it’s helped me. In fact, I think in some ways I’ve been my own nightmare competitor because of my lack of humility.” What he realized is that despite his success, his ego wasn’t consciously or fully under his control. That left him unable to fully utilize its power. Humility would have given him the balance he was missing.
What is humility? A quote from Ralph Sockman is the clearest definition, with slight modification: humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too little of ourselves. It reminds us how far we have come while at the same time helping us see how far short we are of what we can be. As far as the relationship between humility and ego goes, for most people tradition holds that the opposite of excessive ego is humility, when in fact having too little ego is just as dangerous and unproductive as having too much.
But since there’s a natural tendency to deviate from the the right balance of ego and humility, when we move just right or left of center, we begin to lose humility. As a result, our strengths morph into counterfeit weaknesses. Imagine that the spectrum of ego is magnetic, with the strongest pull coming from the two ends. At the center, the magnetic pull on either side has little effect on us. But the closer we move to the extremes, the more the magnetic pull affects us and the harder it is to make our way back. The longer we stay off-center, the more comfortable we become being off-center. If we don’t quickly recover, we’re more likely to develop egotistical habits.
Ego doesn’t suddenly pull us to the extremes and twist us overnight into egomaniacs, or lead us to believe we’re above the law. But once we’re in the habit of being off-center, we do slowly start to believe we’re above other things: reproach, being wrong, being questioned, the need to prove we’re right, having a bad idea, following the lead of others, and so on. Being consistently off-center leads us gradually toward the extremes. Only humility is strong enough to pull us back.
Anyway, thanks for the important work you’re doing and best wishes.
Steve