3 Major Reasons Why Leaders Should be Down to Earth

Nelson Mandela once said, “A leader stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” Although the idea of a leader being humble and self-effacing often doesn’t resonate, humility in leaders marks their sincere willingness to serve the people they lead.

1. Being open to learning from others

In general, humble leaders are those who are open to advices and are willing to learn from others. They understand that they are not the smartest ones in every room, nor do they need to be. This, then, becomes the main parameter that people can use to assess the humility of a leader.

For Winston Utomo, CEO of IDN Media, humility helps facilitate learning. Winston said, “Humble leaders are comfortable asking for input to learn and improve. Everything starts with deep humility. When things go wrong, humble leaders understand and admit their shortcomings and mistakes, then take responsibility. On the other hand, when things go right, they take the spotlight on the teams, not just themselves.”

2. Discipline, reliable, and responsible

According to Winston, humble leaders place a high value on more meaningful things that benefit others. “Humility certainly takes root. By being humble, people are willing to learn to be way more disciplined, reliable, and responsible. This is important not merely for leaders, but also for every individual, as it’s strongly connected with one’s integrity as well as honesty,” Winston emphasized.

Being nice and attentive is what most employees expect from their leaders. Leaders’ ability to find areas of commonality with their employees can start simply by greeting them. “Humble leaders are those who can engage with all of the stakeholders. They understand that there is no way they can do it solo, that all things must involve others’ roles: colleagues, subordinates, clients,” he continued.

3. Empathizing by considering inputs

Again: humility is a necessary quality as it is one of the most powerful and important attributes of growth. Listening to the inputs we receive from others and considering them means that we also have the capacity to empathize, to carefully ‘digest the voices’ of many people. This surely has something to do with how leaders tend to decide.

“Rely on data before making any decision, be confident about it. This is a lesson in itself. Leaders can show great leadership strength by being able to make courageous decisions. They don’t simply flow along with the mainstream, nor do they make popular decisions. Instead, they focus on making few important decisions on the highest level of conceptual understanding,” Winston concluded, giving closure on the interview session.