CHAPTER 10 Five virtues for effective leadership
‘You must cultivate humility …'
CONFUCIUS
‘All true readiness to help starts with humility toward the one I want to help, and therefore I must understand that wanting to help is not to rule and reign, but a wish to serve the person. If I can't do that, then I can't help anybody either.'
SOEREN KIERKEGAARD
Humility: the leadership virtue
Major General Andy Salmon, former head of the British Royal Marines, surprised me when he named humility as an element of ‘commando culture'.1 Who would have thought humility had a place in what appears to be such a tough, unforgiving world?
He explained that personal ‘Commando Spirit' — determination, courage, cheerfulness in the face of adversity, and unselfishness — combines with collective values such as excellence and integrity to create the overall Commando ethos. Humility is one of the Commando group values.
‘Commandos need humility so they can learn from their mistakes,' said General Salmon. ‘Ego and prima donnas don't belong. As a part of our culture we practise “Team first, buddy second and self last”. In order to be humble and lose your ego, you have to lose yourself.'
This sounds obvious in a military environment, since failure to learn from mistakes could have tragic consequences in combat. But it seems to me that everyone, not just soldiers, needs a little humility in order to learn, grow and develop.
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