Humility in Leadership
Modeling how to grow an inductive examination of humble leader behaviors, contingencies and
outcomes
complete the following:
Respond to the three �Sample Interview Questions� on page 6, in the �Model of Data Reduction
Process�, under �Reported Outcomes.�
The following conditions must meet in the paper
1) I want a typical and a quality answer which should have about 1100 words.
2) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
3) The answer must include examples from experience or the web with references from relevant
examples from real companies.
4) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
5) Please don�t use Wikipedia web site.
Humility in Leadership 2
Introduction & Background Information
Though leader humility is still being considered to be a rare personality trait, what
still remains to be unraveled about this aspect is about what this humble leadership appears in
way of being and leadership posture, the kind of behaviors it entails, and the situational and
personal factors determining the efficacy of such behaviors. This paper recognizes that a
humble leader must possess a clear vision of where they would like the organization to be
after some time. It is essential to have a vision in order to plan and budget for the activities in
long and short term goals or objectives. A humble leader is the one who encourages team
work in carrying out the activities. This paper is designed to provide a classical example and
model of what a humble leader should be like, in whatever capacity or position in the
organization.
Theoretical Implications Leader humility is all about how leaders model their subjects
on the gravity of growing and producing positive organizational outcomes by leading their
subjects to believe that their own feelings and development journeys are justifiable in the
work station. For a decade, as Owens & Hekman (2012, p. 792) puts it, leadership proponents
have continuously focused on the essence of humility in the context of leadership. According
to Roberto (2005, p. 23), this is based on the criticalness of leader humility in molding and
shaping acceptable and good conduct and habits among the followers. Both participative
leadership and servant leadership perspectives further stress the virtue of humility as being
crucial for leader efficacy. As organizational environments shift towards becoming more
unpredictable, uncertain, and dynamic, it becomes hard for any potential leader to rise to the
ladder of leadership except by taking humble approaches and engaging in actions that
demonstrate humility of highest order.
The Fundamental Essence of Leader Humility
Humility in Leadership 3
There has been call from practitioners and scholars for the need for both present and
tomorrow’s leaders to approach their functions with more humility. As suggested by Kotter &
Cohen (2002, p. 107), leaders should overcome the common ‘hero myth’ point of view of
leadership via demonstrating their humanness by being open regarding their constraints in
experience and knowledge, and then aiming on how their subjects impact the process of
leadership. Leadership approaches and styles can either be effective or ineffective with
regard to the situation. Malcolm (2002, p. 93) hypothesizes that there may be contexts or
situations in which behaving humbly as a people’s leader may be considered less effective
and even jeopardize the whole situation. This implies that there should be a boundary for the
application of leader humility and humble leader behaviors. As a further ado, a humble leader
has to properly learn when and in what background, their exercise of humility could be
associated with ineffective or weak leadership.
Overview of Conceptual Model
A humble leader believes that ethics governs their integrity and respect towards the
norms of the organization. Ethics promotes honesty and commitments of a person toward the
organization. Such a leader should have good strategic skills to elaborate business plans, and
have relatively low interpersonal skills to negotiate on behalf of the organization. Humble
leaders are expected to address mistakes once they have occurred. A humble leader should be
seen as a negotiator of business deals and the one who can solve problems of workers. A true
humble leader should be rated as a good speaker and one who influences many followers by
using their own good speaking skills. It is also important that a humble leader exhibits aspects
of being an intellectual leader who expects high performance and good results from
individuals and the team.
Perceived Competence Being humble in a position of leadership should make one’s
subjects to rate you as a wise leader who is focused and determined to accomplish the
Humility in Leadership 4
mission of the firm. Followers should rate their leader as a person of splendid vision that
leads to achieving the goals. Such a leader’s behavioral skills should be good and competent
to keep the organization competing in the world of business. The people around should be
able to judge and conclude their leader makes individuals feel a part of the organization’s
family. This comes out of good transformational leadership, only when a humble leader is an
ethical leader. A good leader should be able to balance leadership categories so that he can
lead the organization towards its goals. A leader is the one who manifests leadership in all
spheres parts of life and aspects of daily activities (Bateman & Snell, 2004, p. 102).
Perceived Sincerity
A contingent reward refers to how a humble leader appreciates the work of
employees. Good leaders do not always track the errors and punish the guilty but look on the
good job. Once a good job has been done, such a leader should appraise the workers through
words, rewards, and even promotions (Michael, 2005, p. 35). Praised workers feel motivated
and work hard to earn other rewards. The fellow workers will aim at getting the same
appraisal from the manager and this will increase the production and service delivery. This
skill is essential to the organization because it helps to increase morale of workers and gives
high output. It is a tool that links all other leadership behaviors and acknowledges the work
and efforts of employees (Kotter & Cohen, 2002, p. 25).
Nurturing Interpersonal skills
It is important to understand the backgrounds of each fellow worker to facilitate
interaction with them. Respect of other people’s perceptions and beliefs creates a good
working environment. A humble leader is the one who lowers their expectations and
conditions to allow room for discussion with followers to create a good understanding. A
good leadership is attained via how a leader persuades the workers. Persuasions in terms of
helping them leave a bad attitude and perception and adopt the morale to work for the
Humility in Leadership 5
organization. It is important to give room for negotiation that works like release valve of the
tensions and stress related to work. This skill acts as a link between the management and the
employees. It is important to understand the backgrounds of each fellow worker to enable a
leader interact with them. One should be flexible to meet other people’s standards so that one
can coordinate the intended activities (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002, p. 93)
Conclusion
Humility in leadership is a subject matter that will continue growing relevant as
markets continue globalizing and firms expand. This denotes that in such an environment it
becomes less feasible for a person in position of leadership to capture and run everything on
their own, thus drawing the need for being humble. From this paper, it is true that leaders fail
not because they are not clever, bright, sharp or even informative, but because they fail to
understand themselves and work with their subjects as required. Leaders across various
divides should henceforth lead their organizations by humbly providing them the room for
growth via modeling teachability, and recognizing the unique contributions, knowledge, and
skills of those around them.
Reference List
Humility in Leadership 6
Bateman, S., & Snell, A. (2004). Leadership management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Fullan, M. (2005). Leadership & sustainability: System thinkers in action. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Corwin Press.
Heifetz, R, A. & Linsky, M. (2002). Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the
Dangers of Leading, Volume 465. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people
change their organizations. Harvard Business Press.
Malcolm, G. (2002). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.
Boston: Back Bay Books.
Michael, A., (2005), How Great Leaders Prevent Problems before They Happen, Harvard
university press.
Michael, F., (2005), Leadership & Sustainability, New York Publisher.
Owens, B., & Hekman, D. (2012). Modeling how to grow: An inductive examination of
humble leader behaviors, contingencies, and outcomes. Academy of Management
Joumal, 55(4), 787-818.
Roberto, M. A. (2005). Know what you don’t know: How great leaders prevent problems
before they happen. Pearson Prentice Hall.
