Arrogance, Humility, and Leadership

 The best boss I ever worked for was fond of saying, “Sooner or later, arrogance will kill you.”  In my experience, he was right.  It might not happen right away, but sooner or later, in the fullness of time, arrogance is an almost certain death sentence for someone’s career.  

Yet, perhaps ironically, arrogant leaders often get promoted.  They are brash and decisive, bold in their decision making, directive (giving orders) in their management style, and often intolerant of others, many of the traits we, as a society, frequently associate with leadership.  Yet, by definition, arrogance inhibits a person from fully comprehending their limitations; it squashes others from voicing their opinions; it often thwarts a full and unbiased analysis of the data in favor of the arrogant leader’s “gut” feelings.  Decisions are driven by ego more than facts.  Moreover, the cream of the crop, the best of the best, are unlikely to work for a leader who does not listen to them.  And that matters a lot as people are everything.

At some point, arrogant leaders are likely to make a poor decision, resulting in his or her demise.  It could be that arrogance provokes a leader to harass an employee, pursue the wrong strategy, make a poor investment, strategic, or major tactical decision, or any number of other things.  Sooner or later though, arrogance will kill you.

One company I consulted with had a former leader who was convinced that a certain large capital investment was the right strategic move.  Unfortunately, the company did not do a deep dive into the data, nor did it objectively review the data it had, which would have shown that there was a significant risk the investment would not pan out.  Instead, the cursory review of the data confirmed the executive’s strong inclination, what some call confirmation bias.  The investment was ultimately approved.  But the company never received anything close to the promised return on the investment.  It was all due to arrogance.  

An effective leader, by contrast, is confident but also acts with humility.  I define humility as the absence of arrogance, which is different from timidity.  Humility helps one understand their limitations.  They know they don’t have all the answers.  In fact, they know that no one person does.  

Moreover, humility helps a leader understand that good ideas can come from anywhere. Such a leader is not threatened by ideas and the differing opinions of others.  In fact, they know that it is the debate over differing opinions that will likely flesh out the best option.  Moreover, a leader who operates with humility knows it is about the performance of the team, and so they keep their ego in check.  

As such, humility pushes the leader to create an atmosphere and culture where others are encouraged, indeed expected, to voice their opinion.  People who report to such a leader are, accordingly, engaged, contributing, willing to go the extra mile, and take great pride in the results because it is not the leader’s results but the team’s results.  

Much has been written on arrogant leaders versus leaders who operate with humility.  But there is another critical aspect of humility that is sometimes overlooked.  Trust.  Trust is a leader’s most valuable asset.  We follow people we trust.  We know they will have our back. We know they will treat us fairly.   We believe in their vision not only because it makes sense, but first and foremost because we believe in and trust them.  Indeed, as Jim Maxwell noted, people buy into the leader before they buy into the leader’s vision.  

Conversely, most people will not follow someone they don’t trust – at least not willingly.  If we don’t trust them, it is hard to trust their vision, their loyalty, and their support.  We do not believe that, when the rubber meets the road, an untrustworthy leader will do the right thing.  

Humility is a key component of trust.  By listening, the leader builds trust.  By treating others as important, a leader builds trust.  By giving credit to the team rather than taking the credit themselves, the leader builds trust.  The bottom line is this:  humility has much to be said for it, particularly when it comes to leadership.