As a 30-year Air Force veteran, I have seen my share of inspiring leaders. They all have one thing in common – their foundation started with what I have been saying for years is the most critical characteristic of an effective leader. Humility. I will get to the reason why I believe this to be true in a moment, but first we need to be on the same page of what humility really looks like. The dictionary defines humility as having a modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance. Sadly, too many equate humility with being a human carpet and giving everyone the right to abuse and trample all over them. Nothing could be further from the truth. The right practitioner of humility knows of their own value (being careful to not over inflate it), is aware of their intellectual and experiential limits, and understands that it takes others to accomplish any worthwhile objective. In other words, the humble person knows that they don’t know everything. I cannot think of a better example of this principle in action than the 1860 presidential election.
If you were alive in 1860, you would not have had a shortage of presidential hopefuls to vote for. If you were a democrat, for example, you had the choice between Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckinridge (who ran under the Southern Democrat party). Then there was John Bell, a candidate under the newly created Constitutional Union party. Finally, there were the Republican nominees; William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, Simon Cameron, and Abraham Lincoln.
When one lists the experience these “professional” politicians had, the final outcome of the election becomes even more remarkable. As Doris Kearns Goodwin writes in “Team of Rivals” –
“William Henry Seward had been a celebrated senator from New York for more than a decade and governor of his state for two terms before he went to Washington. Ohio’s Salmon P. Chase, too, had been both senator and governor, and had played a central role in the formation of the Republican party. Edward Bates was a widely respected elder statesman, a delegate to the convention that had framed the Missouri Constitution, and a former congressman whose opinions on national matters were still widely sought.”
In contrast to the men of experience, Lincoln could only boast of a single two-year term in Congress that ended in 1849, and two failed Senate races. The New York Herald described Lincoln as a “third-rate Western lawyer”, and a “fourth-rate lecturer.” Not exactly the words you want to read about yourself in one of the leading newspapers of the day. In fact, you wold be hard pressed to find more deflating terms than these.
Well, the 1860 election did not go as planned. The Republican nod did not go to Seward, or Chase, or any of the other politicians with the boat-load of experience. Instead, the Republican nod, and eventually the Presidential election, went to that “less than desirable” lawyer and lecturer, Abraham Lincoln.
Now, what Lincoln did next was radical. Instead of dismissing Seward, Chase, and the others for fear of what they might do, he appointed them all to his cabinet. He understood that these were men of great talent and experience. Even though others thought he had lost his mind, Lincoln knew he was going to need their intellect for the days ahead. He wrote, “I had looked the party over and concluded that these were the very strongest men. Then I had no right to deprive the country of their service.”
The writer in Proverbs 15:33 shares with us these words: “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.” Perhaps Lincoln understood this. He certainly realized that in an unknowable future, he would be required to put aside feelings of self-importance and work with others to accomplish the critical work that would soon unfold as the nation tore itself apart.
As I said 534 words ago, humility is the recognition that you are not all that (not even with a bag of chips). It is the knowledge that to accomplish great things, it requires great teams. It is the understanding that each one of us needs others to define and refine our strengths and to decrease the effects of our weaknesses. It was for these reasons that Lincoln felt he had to do what he did. And it is for these reasons, effective leaders, from the CEO to the guys at the bottom, drive their organizations onward. And it is for these reasons that humility must be a major ingredient in your recipe for success today and every day.
Faith, Leadership, and History 