Humility is the X-Factor of Leadership

 

In his classic study Good to Great, Jim Collins defines the X-Factor of leadership as that area of leadership that differentiates the Good companies, who have what Collins calls Level 4 leaders, from the Great companies, who have level 5 leaders.  And what is that leadership X-Factor?  Humility.  The Great companies had level 5 leaders with humility!

In Good to Great, Collins explains: 

Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company.  It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest.  Indeed they are incredibly ambitious--but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves. 1

You can hear Collins explain it himself here:

Humility makes the difference.

Dr. John R. Plastow, the Strategic Ministries Pastor at Academy Christian Church in Colorado Spring, CO and author of The Humility Factor and All Things Leadership, put it this way:

Humble is not something that many people immediately say about the leaders they know.  Usually, it's the opposite end of the spectrum that is used to describe leaders of organizations.  In fact, there are some who might say that confidence, which they inaccurately define as a lack of humility, is the way to be a great leader, particularly in secular organizations.  Unfortunately, even in faith-based and charitable organizations, it is easy for leaders to fall into the cavern of ego and self-focus.  Not all leaders do, but it is something to which all must pay attention in order to be the kind of leader who can humbly lead their people. 2

WARNING: Humility is that characteristic that once you feel that you have it, you have probably lost it!  

Being humble is a mindset, not a task on a check list.  True humility is a lifelong process that involves the willingness to sincerely put others first and serve them with the goal of seeing them achieve and advance!

1. Excerpt from Jim Collins: "Good to Great." Harper Business. New York. p.21.

2. Excerpt from John R. Plastow: "All Things Leadership." Xulon Press. Maitland, FL. p.27.