From the course: Mindfulness Practices

Grow humility

From the course: Mindfulness Practices

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Grow humility

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- What makes for a great leader? There's been lots of research on this topic. Perhaps one of the most ambitious studies done on long-term company performance was by Jim Collins. It was published in his classic bestseller, "Good to Great." Jim and his team looked at the performance of over 1400 Fortune 500 companies over a 40-year time period. They asked one simple question: How can a company sustain outstanding results and move from good to great? Jim Collins identified only 11 companies who had sustained great results among the over 1400 companies they studied. One common factor in their success was what he called level 5 leadership. The leaders of these 11 companies represented both fierce ambition to advance their companies and deep humility in their own character. When something went wrong, they took accountability. When things went right, they pointed to all the others who had contributed. I heard somebody say recently: humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. Being humble then is not about valuing ourselves less, it's about valuing others fully and appreciating their contributions. It's about seeing ourselves as part of an ecosystem of people working together to make a positive impact. Our ability to be humble creates greater collaboration, increases others' commitment and motivation, and actually multiplies our ability for impact. The good news is that mindfulness practice can help us rewire our brain for humility. We can practice noticing and appreciating the contributions of others and thus create relationships where people feel valued and empowered to contribute their very best.

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