When we think about how we conduct our business affairs, somehow, humility is not considered, or at least taught, as an essential trait required for business success. Is humility essential? Can humility be taught? We’ll tackle these questions in this episode of By Your Life.
Mass Readings Audio
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/2019/19_09_01.mp3
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 25, 2019
Welcome to the seventy-fifth episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life. If you haven’t already, please sign up for notifications on your favorite podcast app or on the right side of this page so I can let you know when each new episode is posted. If you know of someone who can benefit from By Your Life, I’d appreciate it if you’d forward to a family member, co-worker or a friend. You can also click the icons on the top of the blog page to share on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular, business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time. This week, we heard first from the Book of Sirach. The reading began, “My child, conduct your affairs with humility.” (Sir 3:17) That sounds simple enough. Although humility is simple, it is not easy, especially when we think about how we conduct our business affairs. Somehow, humility is not considered, or at least taught, as an essential trait required for business success. Is humility essential? Can humility be taught?
Some will argue that humility, like integrity, are traits that you either have or you don’t. I would argue that those who believe this are wrong. All leadership traits can be developed if you want to, and you’ll be more likely to want to if you believe it is essential to your success.
So, to make the case for humility and its relationship to success in the workplace, let’s take a minute to explore its opposite trait—pride. Pride is the basest of all the deadly sins. It is the head sin from which all others flow.
Think about which type of leader you preferred to work for, one who is prideful or one who is humble. Before you answer, the dictionary says that “prideful” means having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy.” It is usually not fun to work for someone who shows arrogant superiority or who disdains your views as unworthy.
Early in my career with a Fortune 500 telecommunications company, I worked in our corporate headquarters. I knew when the CEO was in because his golden limo was parked in the garage near the entrance. But in almost two years, I never once saw him because he took the executive elevator to the executive floor and ate in the executive dining room. I understand that he was a busy guy with a lot of responsibility, but aren’t we all?
When I left the corporate office, I took a position in a new division in Florida. The president of this division was completely opposite of his corporate boss. Although I was “just” a manager working on a new business initiative, it wasn’t uncommon for the president to just pop into my cubicle, sit down, and ask me how I was doing, how our project was going, and if there was anything he could do to help us be successful.
From there, we had a revolving door of company presidents. Our division had become a training ground on the career path of corporate division presidents. All these men brought different skills and abilities to the job. But there is one I remember more for what he didn’t do than what he did. He didn’t interact with the people.
At this point in my career, I was the director of strategic planning and new business development for our company and my office was down the hall, about 5-6 offices away from the president’s office. Every day, several times a day, he would have to walk past my office on his way to and from the men’s room. I can count on zero hands the number of times he popped his head in to see how things were going.
I remember this not so much because I felt unimportant, but because I felt that my work was unimportant to him. That’s not exactly a motivator. But it isn’t just about me. I believe that the “pop-in” president was much more effective in his leadership role. He didn’t need to wait for some fancy presentation that sugar-coated a project’s status. He was privy to what was happening when it was happening and could make timely adjustments as necessary. He also would share his perspective so I could adjust as necessary. We were a better team because we communicated.
There are countless examples of CEOs who have moved their offices out of the corner and into the cubicle mix to be closer to the people they lead. But you don’t have to make structural changes in the office layout to improve communication. MBWA, or management by walking around is acknowledged to be as important as it is effective… and much more effective than inviting an employee to come to your office. Meet them where they are. See them where they work. Understand the obstacles they face. And then, do whatever is in your control to help them remove the obstacles.
So, anecdotally, we can point to leaders who demonstrate in their actions a sense of personal humility and we like working for them a lot more than those who don’t. But, is there evidence that humility is good for business?
Author Jeffrey A. Krames thinks it is. Krames wrote Lead with Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis. The author is not Catholic. He is Jewish, the descendant of Holocaust survivors and has interviewed and written about the likes of Peter Drucker, Jack Welch, Lou Gerstner, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Sam Walton, but when writing about Pope Francis he said, “He speaks to me in a way that no other global figure has.” Krames’ book is an authentic and helpful business book about leadership, which he defines as the ability to articulate a vision and get others to carry it out, and it is focused on the humility of Pope Francis.
Krames writes about a humble pope, who when he was to be presented for the first time, declined to use the platform that would elevate him above the other cardinals. He wanted the world to know that he did not perceive his role as one above the rest of humanity. There are countless examples of humble leadership that can be shared about Pope Francis. But that doesn’t mean he is timid or a one-dimensional leader. He is a man of enormous intellect and a shrewd operator focused on his agenda of creating a more inclusive and open Church that meets the needs of all people.
In Lead with Humility, Krames offers a few ideas to help you get your feet on the path to greater humility:
Don’t abuse your power as a leader. There can be no humility in leaders who place themselves above the people they are paid to serve. If you are fortunate enough to lead people, never signal to others that you are above them.
Eliminate any barriers that set you above your employees. Corner offices, reserved parking spaces, private facilities, all keep you away from the people you serve.
Refrain from ultra-expensive dinners that only top management may attend. Encourage your leaders to host breakfasts with direct employees which is a better use of budgets and time.
All these suggestions have a purpose, that is for you to learn more about the people you are leading. As Jeffrey Krames said, “Leaders lead people, not institutions.”
Leaders lead people, not institutions. ~ Jeffrey A. Krames #leadership #leadershiplessons #humilityThese seemingly simple steps may appear trite on the surface, but they represent baby-steps toward a greater goal of changing attitudes. Without knowing the people you serve—your employees, your community, your shareholders—you can’t begin to care about what they care about. If you don’t care about what they care about, you likely care only about yourself…a trait of pride.
Alternatively, as Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” And it is exactly what Jesus encouraged in the parable in Sunday’s Gospel.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. ~ Rick WarrenJesus told a parable to those who had been invited to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. Noticing how the guests were choosing the places of honor at the table, he said, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor.” (Lk 14:8) If you do, you may end up eating some humble pie at that banquet. Jesus continued, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk 14:11)
Instead, Jesus said, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.” (Lk 14:12-14)
This teaching is exactly what Pope Francis has been encouraging the business community to embrace. In a 2014-meeting of global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Pope Francis encouraged them to consider their broader roles in the world order. He said, “I ask you to ensure humanity is served by wealth, not ruled by it.” Then, in late 2016, at the encouragement of the pope, Fortune assembled approximately 100 CEOs of big companies in Rome to work on how the private sector could address global social problems. The group proposed ways that business could help the billions of people in the world who lack basic financial resources, support the effort to care for the environment, expand training programs for those displaced by technological change and provide basic community health care to a half-billion people who have no access to care.
Then, a couple of weeks ago (August 19, 2019) an association of the chief executive officers of almost 200 of America’s largest companies issued a formal statement on the purpose of a corporation. This new statement supersedes previous statements, which endorsed shareholder primacy, and replaces it with a new statement of creating long-term value by better serving everyone – investors, employees, communities, suppliers, and customers.
Pope Francis’ efforts, along with changes in American corporate social responsibility that have been evolving for over the last couple decades, were precursors to the purpose statement that says, “Americans deserve an economy that allows each person to succeed through hard work and creativity and to lead a life of meaning and dignity.” And although each individual company serves its own corporate purpose, they acknowledge that each of their stakeholders is essential and they commit to deliver value to all of them. They agreed to commit to delivering value to [their] customers, investing in [their] employees, dealing fairly and ethically with [their] suppliers, supporting the communities in which [they] work, and generating long-term value for shareholders. (I’d emphasize long-term, which is a shift in focus from quarterly earnings that can lead to bad long-term decisions!)
Corporations are owned by shareholders, who are people. They are run by executives, who are people. They serve customers, who are people. They buy from other companies who are owned and operated by people. And they employ people who live in communities of people who all share the same planet. When every person who makes a decision conducts their business with humility, they are thinking less about themselves and more about the people their decisions will impact. But Jesus promises, “blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Lk 14:14)
We all make decisions every day. We all are called to conduct our affairs with humility. If we want to grow in humility, let’s pray together the Litany of Humility.
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled …
From the desire of being honored …
From the desire of being praised …
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted …
From the desire of being approved …
From the fear of being humiliated …
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes …
From the fear of being calumniated …
From the fear of being forgotten …
From the fear of being ridiculed …
From the fear of being wronged …
From the fear of being suspected …
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I …
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease …
That others may be chosen and I set aside …
That others may be praised and I unnoticed …
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…
… so that I may glorify the Lord by my life. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. Amen
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