Humility

What humility is

Humility is not underestimating one's worth. Saint Teresa of Avila wrote that humility is walking in truth (Interior Castle, VI, 10). A humble leader knows and uses their gifts, but also knows their limits and does not pretend they do not exist.

The Catechism presents humility as the disposition of prayer and the opposite of pride - the first of the capital sins (CCC 2559, 1866). Jesus says of himself: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matt 11:29), and Saint Paul describes Christ, who “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:7).

Humility in leadership research

• Jim Collins found that leaders of companies that went “from good to great” combined personal humility with professional will - see Level 5 leadership.
• Bradley Owens and David Hekman (2012) described three behaviours of humble leaders: acknowledging mistakes and limitations, spotlighting others' strengths and contributions, and modelling teachability. Research links them with greater team engagement and learning.
• Leader humility fosters psychological safety - people dare to raise problems when the leader admits not knowing.

Humility and magnanimity

Alexandre Havard notes that humility does not exclude great goals. The Christian tradition joins it with magnanimity (magnanimitas) - striving for great things. Magnanimity without humility becomes pride; humility without magnanimity becomes pusillanimity.

Practice

• say “I don't know”, “I was wrong”, “thank you”, “I'm sorry”;
• ask for feedback and listen without defending;
• credit success to the team and take responsibility for failure;
• prepare successors who may be better than we are;
• do “ordinary” work too - like Jesus washing the disciples' feet (John 13).

The White Book preamble names humility, with service, respect and responsibility, as the foundation of organisational culture.