Humility in Leadership
Maria Franco-Cortes
Liberty University
Author Note
Maria Franco-Cortes
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Maria Franco-Cortes
Email: mfrancocortes@liberty.edu
Humility in Leadership
According to Leadership Takes Humility Harvard Business Review (2015), those who
run a business are constantly confronted with uncertainty and experimentation. Because a
businessperson cannot be sure of what he is doing, there is no more critical characteristic than
humility. It is critical to recognize that there is always room for improvement and that success
requires collaboration. The ideal work environment is created by being humble and inspiring
teammates. These concepts are consistent with the research findings on effective leadership
presented in DuBrin (2018). People's social actions enable them to collaborate in meaningful
ways to produce leadership outcomes. As evidenced by the emphasis on collaborative leadership,
one crucial role for followers is collaborating with leaders to achieve organizational goals.
Leaders and followers collaborate more closely when high-level leaders do not make all
decisions but solicit input from knowledgeable group members.
Leadership is typically defined as a relationship between the leader and those being led.
According to DuBrin (2018), the leader is an inspirational figure. So far, most of the discussion
has focused on the leader/manager influencing people one at a time or in small groups. Many
top-level leaders' influence attempts aim to bring about changes throughout the entire
organization, often by attempting to overhaul the organizational culture. Another point in
common is that creating a comfortable, pleasant, and intellectually stimulating work environment
is a social responsibility initiative that directly impacts the well-being of employees. Because
many people spend one-third of their time at work, a pleasant work environment increases their
lives' likelihood of being enriched (DuBrin, 2018; Leadership Takes Humility Harvard Business
Review, 2015).
Previous research has suggested that supervisory support such as empowerment and
transformational leadership may encourage team members to "step up" and take on leadership
roles. Chiu et al. (2016) assert that leader humility can play a more critical role in shaping shared
leadership because it facilitates and legitimizes leadership-claiming and leadership-granting acts
among team members. Leader humility can strengthen team members' confidence to take the
lead and signal the importance of valuing others' contributions and influence as an other-centered
leader characteristic that draws attention to followers' expertise and role-models openness to
learning from others. According to Caldwell et al. (2017), humility incorporates self-awareness,
teachability, and appreciation for the abilities of others. Humble leaders are willing to delegate
power to others because they recognize that doing so empowers others and strengthens the ability
of those who have competence and builds trust and commitment. Finally, the Bible defines
humility as meekness, lowliness, and a lack of self-importance. The Greek word translated
"humility" in Colossians 3:12 and elsewhere literally means "lowliness of mind," indicating that
humility is a heart attitude rather than an outward appearance (King James Bible, 2017). One can
put on an outward display of humility while harboring a heart full of pride and arrogance. In
Matthew 5:3, Jesus stated that those who are "poor in spirit" will have access to the kingdom of
heaven (King James Bible, 2017). Being spiritually poor means that only those who admit to a
total lack of spiritual worth will inherit eternal life. As a result, humility is a requirement for the
Christian.
References
Caldwell, C., Ichiho, R., & Anderson, V. (2017). Understanding level 5 leaders: the ethical
perspectives of leadership humility. , (5), 724–Journal of Management Development 36
732. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmd-09-2016-0184
Chiu, C. Y. C., Owens, B. P., & Tesluk, P. E. (2016). Initiating and utilizing shared leadership in
teams: The role of leader humility, team proactive personality, and team performance
capability. , (12), 1705–1720. Journal of Applied Psychology 101
https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000159
DuBrin, A. J. (2018). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (9th ed.). Cengage
Learning.
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org
(Original work published 1769).
Leadership Takes Humility Harvard Business Review. (2015, May 24). [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRb0rGwBw5s
Discussion Reply: Humility in Leadership
William,
The Zhou and Wu (2018) study point out that humble leadership is unique because it
focuses on the developmental journeys of leaders. In the world of humble leadership, leaders are
constantly aware of those around them and lead by example. Research has shown that leader
humility, while not strictly positive, is likely to benefit the organization by increasing employee
satisfaction, work engagement, and retention. Cho et al. (2021) have reconfirmed those humble
behaviors, such as an employee's strengths and abilities being recognized and appreciated, or the
employee's views being sought, or input being requested, or feedback being requested, or the
employee being open to learn from them, serve as cues to the employee that he or she is
perceived as trustworthy (e.g., competent and benevolent) by the leader. Leaders who do not
claim to have all the answers demonstrate that employee input is valued and show that they
depend on their employees to communicate their trustworthiness. Information that makes
someone vulnerable, like honest self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses, and openness
about reliance on others, is linked to perceptions of trustworthiness. DuBrin (2018) describes
how leadership effectiveness can be defined by the willingness to admit errors and seek
constructive criticism.
Furthermore, several people have misperceptions about God, the Bible, and humility, or
modesty. They consider humility to be either overly self-abasing or self-denigrating. But the
Bible states otherwise. On Philippians 2:3, God tells humanity that they are free from pride and
arrogance when they are humble (King James Bible, 2017). Even though they know that they are
weak in their flesh, they still know who they are in Christ. Because of people's Christian faith,
humanity finds happiness in humbly placing others first. The Bible portrays humility as a strong
person who cares for others, not a weakling. Humanity is instructed to perform deeds motivated
by self or self-importance but must instead perform those deeds in a spirit of humility, placing
others' needs above their own.
References
Cho, J., Schilpzand, P., Huang, L., & Paterson, T. (2021). How and when humble leadership
facilitates employee job performance: The roles of feeling trusted and job
autonomy. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 28(2), 169-
184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051820979634
DuBrin, A. J. (2018). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (9th ed.). Cengage
Learning.
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org
(Original work published 1769).
Zhou, F., & Wu, Y. J. (2018). How humble leadership fosters employee innovation behavior: A
two-way perspective on the leader-employee interaction. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, 39(3), 375-387. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-07-2017-0181
Discussion Reply: Humility in Leadership
Lauren,
Song and Zhang (2020) mention that humble behavior is rooted in a long history. The
earliest discussions of this topic were first mentioned in both Greek and Chinese Taoist
traditions. Humble leadership research has made notable progress in the last decade, with
numerous publications, workshops, and educational courses. To be successful as a leader, one
needs several traits, including humility, an understated characteristic. However, many scholars
have begun to study humble leadership from the perspective of behavior. Some scholars are
arguing that it is characterized by behavior that places the organization before the individual.
Leadership with humility can be defined as a leadership style in which leaders are open about
their shortcomings, exalt their team member's strengths, and show a willingness to learn. Humble
leadership differs from other similar constructs, such as authentic leadership and inclusive
leadership, in that it is primarily concerned with the results of an individual's actions. Though
both types of leadership highlight genuine expression, authentic leadership focuses on a
subordinate approach, while humble leadership employs a dual approach, focusing on improving
oneself while focusing on the development of employees. According to Ding and Chu (2020),
more attention has recently been given to humble leadership because of its bottom-up approach.
Leaders who are open to learning and aware of their shortcomings understand and respect the
capabilities of their followers. Recent research suggests that a humble leadership style,
characterized by low self-esteem and a lack of emphasis on authority, is correlated with positive
employee outcomes, such as enhanced organizational support and active participation. While few
studies on this topic, the number of investigations looking at humble leadership as a moderator is
even smaller.
DuBrin (2018) identifies leaders who focus on personal gain as charismatics, while
humble leaders focus on team performance and assisting their staff. Good leaders are prepared to
admit when they are wrong, share the credit, and learn from others. Being humble in leadership
causes employees to be more engaged, have greater job satisfaction, and be less likely to leave
their job. Additionally, many people have erroneous assumptions about the Bible, God, and
humility. People see humility as something to be avoided, like weakness or passivity. Ephesians
4:28 shows that even if you think you are only one percent wrong, you can quickly apologize for
what you did wrong (King James Bible, 2017).
References
Ding, H., & Chu, X. (2020). Employee strengths use and thriving at work: The roles of self-
efficacy and perceived humble leadership. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 19(4), 197-
205. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000262
DuBrin, A. J. (2018). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (9th ed.). Cengage
Learning.
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org
(Original work published 1769).
Song, P., & Zhang, Z. (2020). Multi-level effects of humble leadership on employees' work well-
being: The roles of psychological safety and error management climate. Frontiers in
Psychology, 11, 571840-571840. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.571840
