Leaders Should Always Be Learners

“Embrace your flaws.” 

Not Knowing is a Blessing

Humility is a trait of strong leaders—the type of leaders employees want to work for and investors want to fund. One of the most important days in the history of my company was when I realized being a CEO was a skill that needed to be developed with the same perseverance, ferocity and willingness to learn that athletes apply to their training. It was no different than ballet or working on your golf game. This is one of those skills that must be genuinely developed. Once you embrace this as an opportunity, it let air out of your balloon. You won’t be wasting time criticizing yourself for a lack of knowledge, instead, you will embrace the opportunity to learn and grow.

When you demonstrate humility and embrace learning, you can unlock great things in your team. However, humility has to be balanced.

• Balance with Confidence. First, it has to be balanced with a sense of confidence. If this humility is not balanced with strength, you can undermine the team’s belief in you and in the business. The key is finding the right mix.
• Balance with Genuine Intentions. Second, humility has to be genuine and never used to manipulate. When team members see their leaders genuinely willing to acknowledge mistakes or deficits in a particular area, it inspires them to discover their own confidence to act, take risks, and evaluate their own deficits. This leads to genuine improvement and self-development that will have many positive impacts for your company.

The day you understand and acknowledge your weaknesses and embrace the power of learning and humility is the day you make great progress.