The Strength of Humility
Rick Pitino, the legendary College and NBA coach shared this about humility. “Humility is the true key to success. Successful people lose their way at times. They often embrace and overindulge from the fruits of success. Humility halts this arrogance and self-indulging trap. Humble people share the credit and wealth, remaining focused and hungry to continue the journey of success.”
There is this pervasive perception in business which assumes that by allowing yourself to adopt such attributes like empathy, and humility you become vulnerable and looked at as week. This however is far from the truth.
It takes a strong, self-assured and confident individual to be able to honestly look at themselves through periodic self-evaluations and acknowledge their deficiencies, and move forward with plans to correct them.
On the road to achieving your life long dreams, there will be those moments when untimely setbacks, and/or unplanned failures will land you flat on your back and have you considering to throw in the towel and giving up. Those who choose to adopt the attitudes of arrogance and pride and who choose to blame everyone else and everything else for their demise, either remain on their backs or after having gotten up find themselves on their back time and time again for the very same reasons.
When the hurricane winds of life challenges seem to be pushing you ever backwards and life’s devastating earthquakes seem to be crumbling the very foundations of your goals and dreams causing negative thoughts and feelings to cloud your vision, and discouragement and doubt to confuse your thoughts, you may be feeling all alone, you may want to give up, you may want to give in, but now is not that time.
Now is not the time to be wallowing in self-pity and for blaming others, it is however your time to find the solutions for the trials which you are facing. Now is not the time for arrogance, it is a time for the humility that causes you listen and be open to new ideas brought by others.
It is a time for the humility that allows you be attentive and focus on the things that matter and are a priority to bring clarity to your vision. It is a time for the humility which brings the patience to assure you that though the way may seem dark and dreary right now, this will surely pass and you will be stronger because of it.
As a Managing Supervisor one of your greatest challenges will be creating a synergy amongst those you direct. With the varied personalities, abilities and egos at play, yours should not be perceived as the most dominant and overbearing.
Bringing about unity to a team will require the full strength of your humility. Ensuring the full participation of every team member will require you to develop strong and binding trust levels, and this will only be accomplished through the allowance of differing perspective and opportunities to achieve desired results. And when goals are accomplished none should be feeling left out from the bestowal of accolades.
Developing the strength of humility, does not mean that you must lower or comprise any of your personal or the company’s core standards and principals. Humility gives you the ability to articulate your commitment and unyielding resolve to maintaining these standards in a way which empathizes with the concerns of those you lead.
In your daily quest to develop a better you, never forget these words by the noted journalist Ernest Hemingway, “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
Keith M. Dean