Humility is a necessity for effective leadership. In his blog, organizational behaviour professor Marino Dasmarinas discusses the connection between being humble and being a powerful leader. While power and humility may sound like they contradict each other, Professor Dasmarinas suggests that one is actually an indicator of the other. By being willing to listen to others and admit their own shortcomings, leaders connect better with their employees and provide an environment that encourages employee engagement.

Being humble is a trait of a great leader, but so is confidence. There are concerns that leaders will look weak if they are so willing to admit their faults and ask for input from others. It is often misconstrued that the two traits are opposites, but the two can and should coexist. For example, in high school I had a friend who was the successful founder and organizer of numerous clubs. It was undoubtable that she was an amazing leader, and I attended some general club meetings and some executive meetings to learn more about how she ran each organization. What amazed me was her willingness to allow others to have input in decisions and her openness to critiques. Response from club members was not only respect, but also organizational citizenship behaviour and an excitement to be engaged.

Being confident about your own value and worth as a leader enables a person to be humble. A person can be certain about what skills and ideas they offer to an organization, while still having a desire to learn from the input of others. This is the type of leader that inspires action and drive within an organization, as opposed to obedience and automatism. Unfortunately, this is not taught in schools or work trainings as much as it should be, which is a huge reason why leadership is often so insecure about letting people think they are weak. A true leader knows they can do their job well, but also knows that there is room to grow and much to learn from those that surround them.

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