Humility

Bill Clinton, Pope Francis and Jesus. I am sure that you have heard these names before. In fact, I am certain that you know that I have just named three of the most influential leaders of all time. Jesus was one of the most effective and powerful leaders, and yet he was so humble. Humility is a necessary quality in order to be an effective leader.

Primarily, if one is not humble, then that individual cannot earn the same respect that a person of humility can. For example, if I was the Prime Minister of Canada and I went around boasting to others that I had all kinds of power, from that point on, I would lose all the respect those people could have had for me and hatred would build upon relationships. Nobody would want to be around a person who is centered on “me, myself and I”. After all, why are you a leader in the first place? It is not about showing yourself off but about serving for your people.

In addition, without humility, one cannot improve. If an individual is so caught up in the fact that everything they do is already important, where is there room for improvement? And what is a leader without improvement? Nobody is a perfect leader to start off, with the exception of Jesus. We, as humans, do make mistakes and will make mistakes for the rest of our lives. And so if we are not humble, we cannot undergo change, nor can we better leaders, but either stay the same or become worse.

Moreover, leadership itself is about guiding others. As mentioned before, you are not guiding yourself. How is it that one can lead another group of people if they are too busy guiding themselves? Leaders are existent for a reason. They become the light to those left in the dark, eyes for those who cannot see and ears for those who cannot hear. If you only care about yourself, it is practically impossible for you to become the eyes of the blind. For example, Jesus had and still has the ability to perform miracles and this is something that most of us would probably keep to ourselves. However, Jesus shared his talents and used them for the good of others, something that a human leader could not even dream of doing to the fullest.

In essence, humility is essential in being a leader. Like Jesus, those who are humble are rewarded in the end though it may seem like they have lots of work to do in the process. When a leader, seek God first and ask for Him to work through you. It is not your work and is not done by yourself. If you are humble towards the Lord, then most anything can be possible.