Have You Had that Humbling Experience?
Keeppunching with Kerry Daigle
What does it mean to be humble? What does this special word that is most mis-understood have anything to do with leadership? Many of my travels as a speaker and trainer for our companies have given us great wisdom in watching the real leaders of our industry. I’ve always been curious as to what prompts audience members to label someone as a great leader. The answers have always been fairly repetitious. Those answers that were most given were:
The leader cared more about others than themselves
- The leader never took credit for the work done by others but rather gave credit to those deserving it
- The leader was the humblest of all and enjoyed the successes of others more than his/her own and understood the key to success was in teamwork
- The leader utilized the word ‘I’ very seldom and always utilized the ‘we’ word in describing his or her success
Offering humility is a task in itself for many. Early in my career as a successful trainer with National Safety Associates and the professional boxing arena, I wished that on some of the times I blew my own horn, I had kept my mouth shut tight and offered the praise to someone else. I hope I am much better there and only my peers can make that opinion.
Think about the transfer of praise and how it can increase your business and take it to another level. Think and listen often to those who utilize the words ‘me’ and ‘I’ regularly and yet no one else says the same about this particular person. They lose integrity and most importantly lose the title of ‘leader’ among their peers. True leaders are often found and labeled by their peers by their actions and not by their songs of praise from their own lips.
We should all work to develop a roster of team players. This can’t be done when the leader continually grabs the headlines and doesn’t give notice to their peers they work alongside. When you have someone who has achieved success, share that success with them and do not make it your own. If you do, I can promise that your team building efforts will become unsuccessful. To develop a dynasty (business) that creates success means you must learn to celebrate others’ success and acknowledge their efforts. Leaders have great people around them. Help make your team or peers great.
I’ve learned from my mentors in life that the best way to creating leaders alongside you is to be a world-class delegator of tasks but then again not a ‘boss’. Bring your people to the position of acknowledging their successes, give them tasks that fit their strengths not their weaknesses, be their mentor, and then let them do the job at hand. Monitor from a distance without others noticing. Be their friend. Promote them to others.
Break out leaders. Think of the other person’s strengths and not their weaknesses. Be kind. Smile a lot. Encourage others. Most importantly, be humble and learn to give credit and step back. Give it a try for 12 months and watch your business grow.
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