A word from our CEO

I have been wrestling with the idea of being humble. Anyone else? How do you know if you are humble? If you consider humility being your best character trait – are you really all that humble?

Jim Collins highlights that ‘level 5 leaders’ are distinguished by their humility. As leaders, it’s crucial for us to pause, reflect, and embrace this powerful quality in our journey to excellence.

On a personal level, this past week I faced something challenging – something I had not come across before. I’d heard about it from many people I know. I’d seen others suffer quite badly from it, but had no idea how much humility would play into the days to come…

For almost four years I have been saying I was immune to Covid-19. Yep, it wasn’t going to get me. With hundreds of flights in that time, I enjoyed belonging to the ‘Novid’ class (those who have never had Covid) and I honestly thought I had a supernatural-immune-resistant capacity, and it would never touch me. So, when the sniffles began after a recent trip to Queensland, I assumed it was ‘just a cold’. The sniffles turned into something you don’t want me to describe (really, you don’t want me to go into it!) and someone suggested I test for the dreaded global virus. Argh. What?

Let’s just say that any bravado went out the window and for three days and nights my bed was my only comfort. I had joined the lowly ranks with most of the rest of the world! Being waited on by my husband was a huge bonus – but somewhat humbling! There, I said it. It was humbling.

Physical health may seem a funny thing to have to learn humility about and yes, it was a fun example to share with you. However, when it comes to leadership, we can belong to those ‘Novid’ clubs and forget to look honestly at ourselves and even see ourselves as others do.

In Philippians 2, the apostle Paul describes the humility of Jesus who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the likeness of a man.

My brother, author, and speaker David Timms, puts it like this:

“Humility was neither occasional nor conditional with Jesus. He didn’t diminish himself to impress others. He didn’t downplay His credentials to attract the plaudits of the crowd. He lived and breathed this humility; frequently criticised, nearly always misunderstood, and completely missing the opportunity to build a large base of followers. He did not play the “I am God” card. He did not need to power up over people or push people aside to get a spot on the platform. Godly humility is like that, and such humility requires enormous strength and conviction.”

I wonder today if we can say the same about ourselves as leaders? It’s something to think about.