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Discussion Board 1
Reply to Heather
Liberty University
BUSI 690
Heather,
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You did a great job this week with your explanation of humility and the humbleness of leaders. It
is important that leaders are humble to make themselves and their organizations successful. I
think you conveyed that point wonderfully in your post. All Christians should be humble
servants of the Lord. Great leaders should be servants first. As Mark 10:45 says, “For even the
Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus is the ultimate leader and role model for us all, and he was also a humble leader. He was a
true servant and leader of man. He led the twelve disciples and they willingly and diligently
followed him because he was so humble. Mark 9:35 states, “Sitting down, Jesus called the
Twelve and said, anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” I
agree with you that it can be difficult to be a leader and admit to your mistakes, especially when
you are solely responsible. It is important to serve others first. However, I would like to offer
another perspective on leaders and humility. Can a narcissistic leader also be humble? What are
the possible implications? Narcissism is defined as a “complex of personality traits and processes
that involve[s] a grandiose yet fragile sense of self as well as a preoccupation with success and
demands for admiration and has been described as comprising an excessively self-centered
perspective, self-absorption, extreme confidence or superiority, exploitiveness/entitlement, and a
strong drive to lead (Owens, Wallace, & Waldman, 2015). According to Owens, Wallace, &
Waldman (2015), the current research examines how leader narcissism and humility interact to
predict perceived leader effectiveness and follower (i.e., direct-report) job engagement and
performance. Their research concluded that having leaders that are a bit narcissistic can have
positive effects on followers when their narcissism is tempered by humility (Owens, et al, 2015).
A great leader can be molded with the right balance of humility and narcissism. While I don’t
particularly believe that this is true, the research has been done to prove otherwise. One example
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of a narcissistic leader is the late Steve Jobs. After he was fired the first time, he came back a
tempered narcissist and led Apple to be a very valuable company. While this is just one example,
it is difficult to see how a person can become humble if they are unable to transcend the self as
the center of attention. (Krause & Hayward, 2015).
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References
Krause, N., & Hayward, R. D. (2012). Humility, lifetime trauma, and change in religious doubt
among older adults. Journal of Religion and Health, 51(4), 1002-16.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1007/s10943-012-9576-y
Owens, B. P., Wallace, A. S., & Waldman, D. A. (2015). Leader narcissism and follower
outcomes: The counterbalancing effect of leader humility: Correction to Owens et al.
(2015). Journal of Applied Psychology,100(4), 1213-1213. doi:10.1037/a0039149
