Leadership and Humility

 

 

The Leadership Series

 

 

NOTE: This article is part 10 of a series on Leadership here at The Wealthy Ironworker

1. Foundational Leadership Truths
2. Leadership and The Three Areas of Your Life
3. Personal & Professional Development in a Leadership Context
4. Leadership, Management, and The Skilled Trades
5. The 4 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader
6. Leadership and The Task-Oriented Trades
7. Situational Leadership and the Skilled Trades
8. Leadership and The Art of Intentionality
   1. Skills Developed From The Art of Intentionality
9. Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
   1. Skills Developed From Emotional Intelligence
10. Leadership and Humility
    1. Skills Developed From Humility
11. Leadership and Listening to Understand and Not to Respond
    1. Skills Developed From Listening to Understand and Not to Respond
12. Skills Developed Overall in the Leadership Process
13. Mentored & Mentoring in Leadership
14. Influence Vs. Inspiration
15. Inspiration – Going Beyond Influence

 

***The above is subject to change as this series expands***

 

 

What is Humility?

 

What exactly is humility? Is it something that everyone has – or is able to obtain? What makes it one of the 4 indispensable qualities of a great leader? Let’s look at some definitions to kick this off.

 

Oxford Languages defines it as “a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness.”

Merriam-Webster has a great definition: “Freedom from pride or arrogance : the quality or state of being humble.”

Principle Based Management defines it this way: “Humility is the absence of arrogance, not the denial of strength or intelligence.”

 

Each of the above gives us insight into what humility does – and, just as important, what it does NOT. It is the opposite of arrogance and pride; indeed, it is to be free from it. What’s more – and contrary to what some believe, humility is NOT a weakness – quite the opposite, in fact. It is a strength that only a few achieve.

With that foundation in mind, let’s explore leadership and humility, its importance in a great leader, and why the skilled trades could benefit from leaders who are humble.

 

 

Humility and The Skilled Trades

 

Ahahahahaha – I had a good laugh when I read that the first time, too. Most of us in the trades are proud and arrogant, and some of us more so than others. Many of us can recall memory after memory of the old screaming foreman who said you’d do things his way – and he made sure you heard him, too. This trend, while declining, has given way to different examples of pride flaring up where it can, a continuing cycle of pride that brings us all down. There’s just something about the trades that attracts a specific type of person – many of which can be extremely arrogant.

What’s more, it isn’t just leaders who are susceptible to pride – it comes naturally to each and every human being. It’s our natural default state, and many people lean into it. They embrace pride and wear it like a badge. They are quick to argue, disagree, embrace anger, and give full vent to it. Few seek to de-escalate; when arguing, they WANT you to reciprocate – so they can do it some more. A self-feeding machine, if you will.

Taking the above into consideration, humility is downright hard – to both develop and display.

BUT – since the above is normal in the trades, imagine if you possessed humility. Imagine you were different, challenged the status quo, and inspired others – what would that look like? Leaders, after all, should seek to be influential and inspirational, but what steps should they take?

I believe the sky is the limit for a number of reasons. You’d be one of the few – and that ensures you’d stick out. You would also be further along in your leadership journey – another bonus. Add to this the influence you’ll most definitely have with others, and you have a trifecta coming together for you – and others – to benefit from.

 

 

Humility & Associated Skills

Task-focused, authentically driven, and situational in our approach is the foundation for this style.

As I mapped out this leadership series and expanded on The 4 Indispensable Qualities of a Great Leader, specific traits were identified originating from each quality. Listed here, then, are the skills I believe accompany (or, if you prefer, you obtain/develop from) humility: Courage, Gratitude, Loyalty, Accountability, and Integrity.

The next article will explore these skills in more detail. For the remainder of this one, however, we will dig into more specifics concerning humility.

 

Humility – It Begins With The Leader

 

Humility is one of the most powerful traits someone can possess, something every leader should aspire to develop, is absolutely indispensable if you are to be a great leader – and it must start with YOU.

The best leaders are humble ones. They don’t try to prove they are better than everyone else. They understand how important everyone is to the overall success of the task at hand. They publically praise others and attempt to give credit away. Humility allows them to navigate through personality conflicts on the job and to de-escalate when tensions are high. Since most of us are NOT humble, the intentional leader will know that the key to reaching others is humility. In short, they understand the power of humility and display it in their various everyday interactions.

 

What’s more, we cannot expect those who work for/around/with us to exert humility when we don’t. To expect others to do what we aren’t willing to do ourselves is disingenuous and a mark of our own weakness. If you truly want to be a great leader, one worthy of the influence, inspiration, and promotion others give, you need to be intentional about setting yourself apart – and in The Leadership Series found here at The Wealthy Ironworker, humility is where we start to see massive gulfs between those intentional and those who aren’t.

The reason?

Humility is HARD to develop since it’s so unnatural. It’s also one of the traits many have decided to draw a hard line – one they are unwilling to cross. They could see the benefit of being intentional, and while it was a bit more difficult, they could also understand the benefit of developing their emotional intelligence. But humility? Now you’ve taken this whole thing a little too far – and we are unwilling to move further. “Nothing doing,” we can hear them say.

While humility may be the trait where we begin to see a seismic split between those who do and those who don’t, even among those who don’t, you WILL see them respect those who do. It may have been “a bridge too far” for them to pursue, but they pay their respects to those who did. They KNOW it was hard for a leader to develop humility themselves – they respect that. I’ve said it before, and it’s worth saying again: men don’t follow rules; they follow other men. Show me a leader who is genuine, authentic, and possesses humility, and I’ll show you some truly dedicated and loyal followers.

It starts with YOU – the intentional leader.

 

Humility and Awareness

 

Once you understand that it begins with you – the leader – you must discover how much you have. Different people have different personalities, and that also means different levels of humility. Our own personalities seem to have reservoirs that are capable of containing some humility. Most people have really low humility, though, since they are prideful and arrogant – but that doesn’t mean they should relish it. Quite the opposite.

Humility takes a tremendous amount of work on the leader’s part – but I assure you it’s worth it in the end. The respect alone is worth the price of admission.

There are a number of things you can use to understand your level of humility. You can take a self-assessment to identify where you are at, but that should not be the only metric used. You are, to be blunt, biased about yourself, and that will show itself in the results. Instead, you should also ask others around you for an honest opinion of yourself. Seek out someone who you work for, someone you work with, and someone who works for you. If you really want to go above and beyond, ask others who you don’t work around – like neighbors, friends, and especially family members. Most are not ready for honest feedback from the latter – but if you can, you will find it immensely beneficial – and not just for work, either.

In the end,  you must find out where you are, so you can plot to where you need to be. You need a starting point, and your awareness will give you perspective.

 

Humility Planned

 

Once you know your starting point, you can now formulate a plan. While it’s possible to develop humility without a plan, you’ll likely never make significant progress without one. The same can be said for almost everything else in your life, too.

Have you ever thought about your money after you get paid – like where did it go? Budgeting is, simply put, a plan – and most people’s finances go off the rails when they don’t have a plan.

 

Related: Read The Budgeting Series

 

Considering a vacation abroad – somewhere you must travel to get to? If you did it without making a plan, I’d wager it wasn’t as good as it should have been. The same could be said for projects around the house, renovations, losing weight/getting in shape, or even saving for retirement (MANY people wished they had done this earlier). Each of these should have a plan – humility is no less important.

What will your plan look like? That depends on your initial assessments, but here are a few things you could expect to have on one.

1. Think less of yourself – i.e. deal with your pride. We will explore this more in-depth in the next article, but for starters, a proper understanding of just how important you are in relation to everything and everyone else is paramount.
2.  This will NOT develop overnight. This whole endeavor is not a sprint – it’s a marathon. We are addicted to the here and now, instant gratification, and wanting what we want immediately. Developing a trait that’s foreign to us – humility – is hard enough; doing so while our insatiable desire to have it at once is a one-two combo can be unbearable.
3.  Stay the course no matter what others do. Understand the only thing you can control is yourself and your response to others. Most of us are prideful and will fight any attempt to deal with it – even if it’s in others! Misery loves company, after all.

 

The above isn’t exhaustive, but it should help you develop a plan of action. Don’t discount planning – it’s often the key to success and the only thing that keeps others from failing. As the old adage goes, “Failure to plan is planning to fail.”

 

Humility In Action

 

Now comes the hard part: acting on what you’ve planned. This is a lot harder than many people realize; we want to be important, we seek to elevate ourselves, always look for opportunities to debase others and cast off responsibility and the blame for failures.

But this is not the way for an intentional leader. You know you must be different. You understand just how important it is. You’ve followed this model this far – no turning back now.

As you interact with others and attempt to stick to your plan, you MUST be mindful of what you say and how you react. The tired, old, and automatic ways of the past must go away if you are to develop humility. No longer can you respond in anger or elevate the argument. You can’t make any progress if you intend to do the same old same old.

Adding difficulty to this is the way others think of you. Some may believe you’ve become weak. Others will think you’ve lost your mind. There will be a few who make it their mission to get you angry, finding humor in your frustration. Yet for all of them (and many others, I might add), there will be those who respond positively – and that number will grow as time passes. I’m speaking from experience, here.

Act on what you plan and stay the course.

 

Spend Time Reflecting On Humility

 

The more time you spend reflecting on something (anything, really), the greater the chance you’ll develop it further. Take your hobbies, for example. How many of you reading know your hobbies well? How many of you have spent time reflecting and – if we’re honest, borderline obsessing – over that which we enjoy? Ask yourself: where would you be without that concentrated thinking? Thinking turns to action via practicing, and practicing, as they say, makes perfect.

In the end, you understand the connection between reflecting and concentrating on a hobby – how much more so with a leadership trait like humility? I suspect the connection is clear. Moreover, this is true for ANYTHING you endeavor to get better at. Want to be a better welder? Looking to be a better father? Seeking more opportunities to start a business? It could be that you are interested in building something, take a trip, or even set some personal goals for yourself. WHATEVER it is you endeavor to do well, you WILL spend time reflecting on it.

The intentional leader will not leave this step out where this trait is concerned. Evaluate your situations, how well – or how poor – you handled them, consider what went right or wrong, what you could improve on, and ultimately how you can develop your humility even more.

This is not easy!

But I assure you it’s well worth the effort.

 

Humility and Mentoring

Photo from Freepik

 

While you are developing your humility, do not forget mentoring – far too many already do. Mentoring has been on the decline for decades, and we need to correct course before too much institutional knowledge is lost. Leadership – intentional and developed humility – also needs to be passed on.

Have you ever heard someone say, “Leaders aren’t born; they are made?”

If that’s true, how do we develop leaders – and what role does the intentional leader play in all this?

First, rightly understand that YOU – the reader, the one seeking to develop your humility and leadership – have a massive part to play. Who else is going to do it? Who else will mentor the next generation of leaders? Someone else? Hardly; the entire industry has suffered from the idea of offshored training (it’s someone else’s responsibility – the worker, college, etc.) and what are the results of the decades-long experiment?

A significant decrease in not just mentors but also knowledge, skills, and – perhaps even more importantly – recruitment and retention.

If you’ve reached this point, you already KNOW how hard it was to develop some humility, and hopefully, you recognize how much easier it would have been if you had a mentor. Well, those mentors don’t just appear out of thin air – they, too, are developed, and it’s up to you to become one.

One last thing: humility is exceptionally difficult to develop – especially in the trades. Despite all of the opposition, difficulties, and obstacles you faced, you were able to do it; hopefully, you feel a responsibility deep within to help those who actually want to develop humility, too.

Reach down and help others up.

 

Humility – Use It To Develop Listening To Understand Rather Than To Respond

And just like that, we are preparing to develop the last trait in this leadership model: Listening to Understand Rather Than to Respond. Recall in earlier articles that we’ve explored how one trait’s development leads to another. Intentionality led to the development of Emotional Intelligence, and Emotional Intelligence brought about a more difficult trait: Humility. At this point, we now look at the most difficult trait to develop – and we must have humility to develop it.

As such, when you are navigating your way through this leadership model, understand one is built on another, and difficulty increases each time. If you want to be a great intentional leader, you MUST take this seriously. We will explore this last trait in another article, but know this: At this point, you have seen that each of the former traits were worth developing – your curiosity should be stoked at what this last trait will do for you, too.

Stay the course – it’s worth it.

 

Conclusion

 

Humility isn’t easy to develop; numerous obstacles are in our way, and pride is there to trip us up. We need to understand that going in. Recognize that it all starts with YOU, the leader. Find out how aware you are of your own humility, make a plan to develop it, and act on that plan. You should also reflect on humility – how you’ve done up to this point and how you can improve. You should recognize the importance of mentoring and be intentional about doing it. And, our last trait – Listening to Understand Rather Than to Respond – cannot be developed without having first developed Humility. Keep that in mind as you move through this model, and know this: you have already distinguished yourself.

Keep on keeping on, and see you in the next article.

 

 

NOTE: This article is part 10 of a series on Leadership here at The Wealthy Ironworker

1. Foundational Leadership Truths
2. Leadership and The Three Areas of Your Life
3. Personal & Professional Development in a Leadership Context
4. Leadership, Management, and The Skilled Trades
5. The 4 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader
6. Leadership and The Task-Oriented Trades
7. Situational Leadership and the Skilled Trades
8. Leadership and The Art of Intentionality
   1. Skills Developed From The Art of Intentionality
9. Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
   1. Skills Developed From Emotional Intelligence
10. Leadership and Humility
    1. Skills Developed From Humility
11. Leadership and Listening to Understand and Not to Respond
    1. Skills Developed From Listening to Understand and Not to Respond
12. Skills Developed Overall in the Leadership Process
13. Mentored & Mentoring in Leadership
14. Influence Vs. Inspiration
15. Inspiration – Going Beyond Influence

 

***The above is subject to change as this series expands***