Lead with Humility

Leadership is a highly sought after quality. From conferences to books to blogs (kinda like this one...whoops) to podcasts, and the list goes on, people are looking for ways to improve their leadership. It seems everywhere there are people, leadership is valuable and necessary. Compelling leaders are a gift to those around them, those they lead and those they influence. Organizations can thrive under excellent leadership or can suffer their demise under poor leadership. 

Simply put, leadership is the ability to influence another person.

If leadership is influence, how do we distinguish "good" leadership from "bad" leadership? How do we delineate between "effective" and "ineffective" leadership. John Maxwell offers one framework for leadership ranging from position to pinnacle. In his book The Five Levels of Leadership, Maxwell offers what I find to be a compelling view of life giving leadership...cultivate leadership that is rooted in your character; who you are and the way you live your life.

Lead with humility.

As leaders, we can often buy into the pressure to perform, deliver, and distinguish ourselves as notable. The true challenge of leading well is to see those around you benefit from your influence. Cultivating a character and a lifestyle of humility is essential to life giving leadership. Creating a culture of servant hearted leadership insures the team will be cared for and the team will benefit. Humility allows leaders the strength to give credit to the team and take ownership of setbacks. When we lead with humility we are not simply defined by success or failure, we are rooted in character that surpasses circumstances.

When we lead with humility we are not simply defined by success or failure, we are rooted in character that surpasses circumstances.

Humility is defined as a modest view of one's importance. In other words, you could say that humble leaders have an increased view of other's importance. Leading with humility requires maturity, courage and a secure sense of self. Leading with humility will challenge the cultural norm at times. Leading with humility is an inside out approach to influence. As I have spent over two decades on teams, interacting with different organizations and leading groups of various sizes, I have found humility to be one of the greatest qualities of compelling leadership.