One might say that the ability to evaluate one’s own ability is the most important skill of all. I’ve categorized this excerpt as “Self-Awareness,” because humility starts with a clear and sober recognition of ourselves. I hope you’ll find them as helpful as I did. It’s an excellent profile of famous humble (and not-so-humble) leaders, along with the lessons we can learn from them.īelow are a few of my favorite excerpts from the book. To complement the interviews, I recently read Ego Is the Enemy, by Ryan Holiday.
I’m trying to better understand: What are the defining characteristics of a humble leader that gets results? So, I’ve been interviewing successful leaders described by others as uniquely humble. I need to keep working on my humility, making life less about me and my ego. This meant a more sober assessment of our capabilities and less of an emotional response to setbacks. To be able to move forward, we had to learn, adapt, and improve…with more humility. I had woken up anxious, but that wasn’t all. So it was time, we concluded, to double down.Ĭash (or lack of it) can force clarity around reality, and this was clear: These investments weren’t winning at the rate I had predicted and something had to change. And the aggressiveness was fueled by a belief that we could win at just about anything. The investments we’d made weren’t bad they were just aggressive. We’d made large investments to expand our successful business, but they weren’t paying off fast enough. Cash reserves at our company were falling. Eighteen months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with a racing heart and shortness of breath.