The Best Bosses Don’t Forget This Important Trait…
I came across an interesting article the other day about Naomi Osaka. She just won the Australian Open, one of the four annual “Grand Slam” events in tennis. It focused on her refreshing humility after the match, in which she proved herself the very best at what she does. That may not have much to do with print management and other things I usually talk about. But it could have a great deal to do with making your business run more smoothly, which I always talk about.
The author was showing that Osaka’s humility is engaging and draws people to her. That, of course, is a sharp contrast to the boastful arrogance we so often encounter today, from the workplace to politics to personal relationships. But it’s the “bosses” part that caught my eye. The article referenced a story in the Wall Street Journal that points out specific (and proven) benefits to companies whose leaders follow Osaka’s humble lead.
Business Thrives with Competitive, Ambitious—and Humble—Bosses
For some time, traits like determination and a take-charge attitude were thought of as desirable for leaders. But the article presents survey research that shows smart companies would head in a slightly different direction. Those traits might not be “the holy grail” for any potential employee hire, let alone for leadership positions.
Leaders who are overly attention-seeking, charismatic and persuasive can even harm a company. They are overconfident and ignore feedback from others. The best leaders, in contrast, are still competitive and ambitious. But they give credit to members of their team and listen to input from others.
Results Show Humility Improves Business Results
The surveys cited seem to define “humility” in slightly different ways. But they are quite clear in pointing out the advantages that humble leaders bring to a business. Researchers conclude that:
- Humility brings a willingness to respect diverse view and take suggestions seriously. That makes employees more proactive and likely to bring forth ideas that can benefit the company.
- Humble leaders inspire more job satisfaction and commitment from employees. This also encourages them to treat others in a similar fashion, providing a better working environment.
- Teams with humble leaders perform better and do higher-quality work.
Humility brings advantages at every level of the organization.
- Companies with humble chief executives are more likely to have upper-management teams that collaborate and work smoothly together. They routinely support one another and share decision-making.
- Among all employees, they linked humility to lower turnover and absenteeism—a clear boost to productivity.
Making Productive Changes
One of my big takeaways from all this is that humility leads to openness and communication. That’s just a good thing to keep in mind as you evaluate your leaders (and your own tendencies) as 2019 unfolds. I’m, a believer, since new ideas and different ways of doing things power our entire organization. Our products and technologies promote efficiency and allow you to keep your employees doing what they want to do: what you hired them for, and what they do best.
We’ve earned three consecutive Best of Print and Digital awards that are based on positive customer reviews. Our ISO 9001:2015 certification isn’t easy to earn or maintain, though this is not the post in which I should boast about that. But the bottom line is that humble people make your business run more efficiently. And we humbly suggest that you contact Superior today because we are confident we can help in that area, as well.
