In my role, I’ve been honored to coach many senior leaders and work with many executive leadership teams. The best leaders all have one thing in common: Courageous Humility. These leaders take their work seriously, but don’t take themselves too seriously. They bring boldness and openness and strength and curiosity.
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins described “Level 5 Leadership” as a blend of professional will and personal humility.
In today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) context, we need bold and fierce leadership that is also collaborative, curious, and open. Leadership is a process, not a position. Courageous humility is a paradox that today’s leaders can cultivate to help them lead for transformation for better tomorrows.
Courageous Humility is Not Either/Or
When we split courage and humility apart, both can turn toxic:
Courage without humility can become:
- Ego and hubris
- Power over others
- Reckless
Humility without courage can become:
- Indecision or self-doubt
- Playing small
- Waiting for others to lead
- Passivity or reactivity
- Loss of self and agency.
Both extremes lead to ineffective leadership. And yet, many leaders are praised for one or penalized for the other, often depending on our identities. The real strength comes in combining both with the right nuance and agency. Some of us who experience numerous privileges based on our identities may need to work harder on cultivating humility, while those who experience oppression may have to work at overcoming cultural messages and assert their strengths, leadership, and assertiveness.
It is also key to maintain the courage in our work, as well as its purpose, mission, goals, and outcomes, while maintaining humility about ourselves as leaders and the limits of our knowledge, certainty, and ego. This involves embracing curiosity, humor, and connection. We need courage, strength, and the willingness to do the hard and unpopular thing to move our collective purpose forward, but we do not need them to bully, self-aggrandize, or reign from on high either.
Courageous Humility in Action
When courage about our work and humility about ourselves come together, they don’t dilute each other—they deepen and balance each other. When we take our work seriously, but do not take ourselves seriously, courage can look like:
- Empowering
- Power with others
- Assertive
- Proactive
And humility can look like:
- Being of service
- Open to learning
- Collaborative
- Curious
Together, they can look like:
- Taking initiative with openness to feedback
- Speaking hard truths with empathy and compassion
- Holding power responsibly, open to accountability, and not defensive
- Assertive collaboration
- Being decisive and inclusive
- Being open without compromising our authenticity, integrity, and agency.
This is the kind of leadership that fosters trust and drives transformation with clarity, integrity, and compassion. How might you build your own courageous humility so that others see you as someone who takes their work seriously but doesn’t take yourself seriously at all? How might this deepen your leadership?
