Two of our most popular conversations on Lets Grow Leaders involve the concept of confident humility. See both of these related articles: 9 Ways Confident Leaders Remain Humble and Can We Teach Humility?.
The active dialogue from your inspired comments attracted interest from the extended community. I had the opportunity to extrapolate the converation in an interview with Jesse Lahey on his Engaging Leaders poodcast and in an interview with Mark Tobin. I share each of these conversations today.
Confident Humility: A Podcast
Listen to the podcast by going to Engaging Leader.
Karin and Jesse discuss:
- Why humility matters so much in leadership
- Being confident but still remaining humble
- Five ways to teach confident humility
- Confidence + Humility = Credibility
Karin and Jesse also address these questions from listeners:
- Does humility get in the way of executive presence?
- If the concept of humility was not learned as a child. Do you really think it can be learned in adulthood, especially if the person has already achieved success or leader status?
An Interview with Mark Tobin
Tobin writes:
“I’m fortunate that practically all my corporate clients genuinely care about leadership and demonstrate this commitment in our engagement. However, many executives claim to be interested in leadership yet their behavior often doesn’t match their speech. I’ve recently crossed paths with a senior leader (not a client) who writes about and demonstrates leadership.
Karin and I both blogged about the coexistence of confidence and humility in leadership and exchanged thoughts (Can Confidence & Humility Coexist In A Leader?). I recently interviewed Karin about our shared thoughts on leaders and leadership.
Read the interview here: Thoughts On Leadership From A Fortune 20 Executive
The overwhelming majority of people leading others are afraid to be vulnerable. They think it makes them look weak. They have it all wrong. They don’t understand that eating humble pie will make them a leader people will run through a brick wall for.
Steve, I so agree. People want to be lead by humans, so they can bring their humanity to the mix.
Only strong people are humble. They know how much more they need to learn and people respect their drive to capture more knowledge. We were born of clay and not of gold.
Ali, great metaphor…. being born of clay. thank you.
Humility is something which is very difficult to understand, because it is something that seems counter intuitive. This is something so many people do not understand. They believe the only way to have your own horn tooted is to toot it yourself. Wrong answer!
Dave, yes…it is counterintuitive. But when done elegantly, priceless.
Having an understanding that there is more than one story or narrative (even for a single person) is very helpful in developing humility. Back when I was an engineer I had a boss who often said, “there are 6 of us in the room which means there are 10 possible solutions, Let’s pick one that is good enough.”
Renee, what an important addition. So many important stories… incuding yours. Now you’ve got me curious about engineer to reverend thing… we should talk more. Namaste.
Humility is crucial to be able to multiply the talent around as well as it opens new ideas to be generated. Having a strong presents and being humble is a difficult balance. Great pod cast.
Mauro… yes, so agree with that. It’s contagious. Thanks for listening… and commenting.
Vulnerability is the new strong.
Great conversation thanks for sharing.
Lolly, Amen.
Karin, Great podcast with Jesse. Particularly enjoyed your perspective on leading when people don’t have to follow you. That’s a true test of leadership. Although I bet you weren’t counting on a leadership challenge with the kids musical at the church! Really enjoyed our conversation, thanks for including it in your post.