The Value of Confident Humility
I have long believed in the value of a team chock-full of people with confident humility. I had a “feel” for what this meant and why it was important, and I definitely knew what it was NOT…big ego, self-promoting, know-it-alls.
Then I came across Adam Grant’s well-articulated description in his latest book, Think Again, and it helped further crystallize the what and why behind the phrase.
Breaking the words apart, Grant says that humility is “about being grounded — recognizing that we’re flawed and fallible,” and he describes confidence as “a measure of how much you believe in yourself. “
When you put the two together, you find the “sweet spot of confidence” where “you can be confident in your ability to achieve a goal in the future while maintaining the humility to question whether you have the right tools in the present…having faith in our capability while appreciating that we may not have the right solution or even be addressing the right problem.”
Who doesn’t want to be on a team with people who admittedly don’t have all the answers but still have the optimism that together we can accomplish big things?
“Arrogance is ignorance plus conviction. While humility is a permeable filter that absorbs life experience and converts it into knowledge and wisdom, arrogance is a rubber shield that life experience simply bounces off of.”
Tim Urban
(as quoted in Think Again)
Grant wraps up the topic with this: “Arrogance leaves us blind to our weaknesses. Humility is a reflective lens: it helps us see them clearly. Confident humility is a corrective lens: it enables us to overcome those weaknesses.”
Confident humility breeds increased candor, transparency, and trust, which leads to healthier, high-performing teams focused on the right opportunities and challenges for the right reasons.
RESOURCES
The Intriguing Relationship Between Strength and Humility (CEO Magazine)
More from Adam Grant — The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers (TED)