Trait 3: Be Humble
Your level of humility reveals your level of security.
“Humility is the mother of all virtues because humility acknowledges that there are natural laws and principles that govern the universe. They are in charge. We are not. Pride teaches us that we are in charge. Humility teaches us to understand and live by principles, because they ultimately govern the consequences of our actions. If humility is the mother, courage is the father of wisdom. Because to truly live by these principles when they are contrary to social mores, norms, and values takes enormous courage.” ~ Stephen R. Covey
My wife, Ria, had the privilege of speaking to a large group of prison wardens to kick off a nine month Transformational Leadership development program near San Francisco, California in January 2017. I was privileged and excited to also receive an invitation to attend the two day kick-off.
The focus of the entire program was to help the wardens learn how to grow and develop their support teams. Ultimately, the goal was for them to develop high impact players. The key to growing and developing high impact team players is to be a high impact team player yourself which is exactly what the wardens would be focused on during the nine month program.
While we were there, we got to meet and invest some time with retired Prison Warden Burl Cain. Cain had been the warden at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola from 1995-2016. Angola was home to over 5,000 inmates at times and was once referred to as the bloodiest prison in America. However, Cain led an unprecedented transformation at Angola. As Dennis Shere, author of Cain’s Redemption, wrote, “Angola is now known as a place of hope.”
What I remember most about Warden Cain is his humility. Yes, he was the Warden. But more importantly, he was a high impact player on a high impact team. I’ll never forget his simple message to the other wardens gathered there that day.
Cain said, “Be humble, so you don’t stumble.” That was Cain’s personal motto. I saw him model it effortlessly for two days straight.
When we’re not humble, there’s no doubt we’re more likely to stumble.
When Cain took over Angola, he had too much pride. His pride not only had a negative impact on him, but it also negatively impacted his team. As Ezra Taft Benson stated so well, “Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.”
Fortunately for Warden Cain and his team, he quickly turned the corner by learning to set his pride aside and focus on doing what was right, not on being right.
Players who want to be seen as right are focused on themselves and have a “me” focus. Those focused on doing what’s right are focused on others and have a “we” focus.
A team suffers when their efforts must revolve around a low impact player’s pride and ego. The prideful player also suffers. However, they often suffer in the dark. They’re unaware of how much their character flaws are holding them back.
The low impact player doesn’t realize how their influence is diminished as a result. Because those who are prideful and driven by ego tend to always be that way, they don’t know what they don’t know. They see humility as a weakness, not as a strength.
Too much pride and ego are indicators of insecurity. The most insecure among us are also the least humble among us. Insecure people try to prove something on the outside to make up for what’s missing on the inside.
High impact players are always humble. They don’t want credit. But, they do want to give credit to others. They don’t want the spotlight on themselves and prefer to shine the spotlight on others.
Ria and I had the privilege of investing a full day training and developing a Blue-Collar CEO and his entire staff and manufacturing team recently. The moment I met the CEO, I knew he was a humble, high impact player. He was wearing the same uniform the front line team members were wearing. He spoke highly of those on the front lines and avoided speaking about himself. He sat through every development session, even those that were repeated, and took more notes than anyone else.
Humility has nothing to do with position, title, and rank. Humility has everything to do with character.
“The best thing we can do is be who we are, whatever that is. We’re all drawn to authenticity. We like people who are real. Sometimes real people are flawed, we’re all flawed. I think we connect with people who are open, exposed, willing to admit things they’re good at, things they’re not good at, try to be humble, try to be collaborative.” ~ Bob Myers
Read…Trait 1: Be Growth-Oriented; Trait 2: Be Trustworthy, Trait 4: Be Responsible; Trait 5: Be Positive
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