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Random Dialog
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This Forbes article is the business take on what Brian's message today 05/13/2014
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The Paradox Of Humility In American Business And Society, Doug Guthrie
Great business leaders are remarkably talented, possessing special skills that allow them to push organizations to great heights. But true leadership requires them to be both exceptional and humble. How can we teach the next generation of America’s business leaders to be bold and exceptional while still possessing the humility that allows them to be trusted and believed?
The dictionary defines humility as “modesty” and “lacking in pretense”, but that doesn’t mean humble leaders are meek or timid. A humble leader is secure enough to recognize his or her weaknesses and to seek the input and talents of others. By being receptive to outside ideas and assistance, creative leaders open up new avenues for the organization and for their employees. Strong leaders wear their humility lightly, and they rarely showcase either their genius or their humility. Hence the paradox of humility: How to share your best with the world while sublimating your ego to advance the organization. Can you both stand out and sit back? The best leaders prove that you can, and it’s a lesson that business students and other novice business leaders should learn if they hope to achieve success. As management expert Ken Blanchard says: “People with humility do not think less of themselves; they just think about themselves less.”
American culture does not prepare us for this approach to leadership, nor does academia. Humility has a deeply embedded place in religious history (as a central tenet of most faith teaching), but it is rarely referenced in American business teachings. And it is certainly not what we teach in American business schools. On the contrary, we teach students to be aggressive, distinguish
themselves, stand apart.
That was the approach to leadership I brought to the deanship at the George Washington University School of Business three years ago. I believed that I was suited for the job of dean, despite some glaring omissions in my resume—I’d never served in a senior university administration position. But I also had a reputation for designing innovative and profitable programs and for being an
authority on bold and creative leadership. My status as a China expert helped, too, since every university is trying to create a China strategy these days. My GW tenure proved to be equal parts exhilarating and jarring—and, most importantly, a true lesson in the importance of humility in leadership. I loved the strategizing, but did a poor job bringing the faculty along. With every
homerun, there seemed to be a strikeout or two. We launched a successful program here, and the faculty battled me there. We raised more donations than ever, but spent more than we budgeted. It was a roller coaster ride of failure and success.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), I have learned a great deal, both from my struggles at GW during the last three years and my dismissal from my deanship in late August. Studying, teaching, researching and pontificating on leadership does nothing to prepare you for leadership; and leadership requires so much more humility than I ever realized. Regardless of the headlines, and there have been many, I realize today that I was ultimately expelled for the most personal of reasons: I was inexperienced
and too impatient to suffer academic minutiae and delicate egos. I might have had a vision for the school, but I also needed more hands-on experience to complement my expertise. I did a terrible job of managing up. I’ve taught leadership theory to executives and MBA students for more than a decade, but the painful reality is that I lacked the important element of humility when I
walked through the doors at GWSB. I thought I knew everything when I really had much to learn.
In the end, what we teach about leadership in business schools simply does not prepare students for leading, because we ignore the importance of humility in business and beyond. As I lived through my own challenges with leading, this reality became abundantly clear. It’s a message we must share with our students to better prepare them for a life in business leadership.
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Tamarie 05/13/2014 08:30 |
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