First Quarter 2013- Issue 11
At the End of the Day- “Self Confidence & Humility”
A leader’s self-confidence is critical if leaders want to be convincing to their followers. Self-confidence as discussed here is “the absence of self-doubt” and having a “believe in yourself” mindset. Self-confidence is very important to be able to push through challenges and barriers encountered in achieving leaders’ visions and goals. Self-confidence is rooted in the exhibition by leaders of strengths and the utilization of assets they possess. It is using these strengths and assets in a prepared manner that allow leaders to move forward with their agendas.
However, when leaders rely so much on their self-confidence, they can miss a more important quality that helps establish sustained leadership performance over a longer period of time. This quality is humility, that of being humble towards their achievements. It is this quality that gives others an opportunity to express their ideas and creates a powerful motivator for them. When leaders have self-confidence AND humility, they avoid moving into a state of arrogance and myopia. They are comfortable with who they are, what they represent and are more likely to be in a state of giving than receiving and continuous learning. It does not mean that they are not assertive in setting forth their views and opinions. It simply means that they are more apt to be better listeners, better encouragers, better synthesizers and better at adding context to the text. Without humility, leaders who rely solely on their self-confidence risk falling into an arrogant belief that they did it or can do it by themselves. The difference between being confident and arrogant is sometimes said to be knowledge. The self-confident leaders are knowledgeable and more collaborative while the arrogant leaders think they are knowledgeable relying primarily on their own personal myopic lens. Sustained performance over longer periods couples self-confidence with humility. This combination also forms the basis for the transformational leadership style component “individualized consideration” where leaders effectively develop individuals as the leaders that will carry out the long term sustained performance into the future long after the leader is gone.
In the book “Good to Great”, a self-confident and humble leader is the highest level of leadership in the Level 5 Hierarchy. It is moving from the Level 4 to the Level 5 leader that leads to sustained performance over long periods of time. Self-confidence is perhaps the most important emotional behavioral trait in leading yourself and others. However, it should never be relied upon by itself. The combination with humility keeps leaders well-grounded and allows them to fully embrace the potential around them.
–Mario Flores
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