Since When Are CEOs Humble and Learners?

“It is a blessing to acknowledge when you come across something you don’t know, not a curse.” 

Not Knowing is a Blessing

One of the most important lessons I learned at my company was that it is a blessing to acknowledge when you come across something you don’t know, not a curse. When you first start, you think if you don’t know something or the company can’t do something, it is a flaw. It’s quite the contrary. It’s critical that you understand, recognize, acknowledge and embrace your flaws and the company’s shortcomings. This is counterintuitive. Entrepreneurs are driven, intelligent and confident. Not knowing something seems like a sign of weakness. It’s the opposite.

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.

How does it benefit your company?

• Gets People Aligned. Take the example of how to get team members aligned to a plan or objective. Let’s say your team is skeptical of your perspective on how to release the beta of your product. There are two ways you can handle the same issue. One approach would be to tell them what to do. Another approach would be to introduce the topic and say something like, “I was wrong about how to approach our alpha version and wanted to make sure we got it right this time. My initial gut is that we should launch in the summer, but what do you think?” Express to team members that you would like everyone’s feedback on the approach.
• Builds Trust and Credibility. Being humble and acknowledging the error of your ways is also a great way to build trust and credibility:

We’d been selected as a finalist for an RFP for CIGNA to be their incentive vendor and I was leading the presentation. During a break, one of the CIGNA employees directed me to the restroom and said, “Do you know how to get back? It’s hard to make your way around here because all the halls look the same.” I said I was fine. After about a half hour of walking around while my team was presenting, I walked in the door. Everyone smiled with that sheepish look of “we told you so.” They asked if I was okay and I said, “If the CEO of your vendor can’t find his way back from the bathroom, I don’t think you should hire us to run your incentive programs.” Everyone laughed and we moved on. We wound up winning the RFP. I’m sure that was not the reason why, but I think they knew they were partnering with someone who was real.

It was embarrassing that I could not find my way back, but not as embarrassing as what happened two years later only a few miles away at Aetna, one of CIGNA’s main competitors:

We had been selected by Aetna as a finalist for their RFP for incentives. We had been working on this client acquisition for two years and it was down to us and one other company. At the final meeting, there were five members from our team and about twenty-five Aetna participants. As my team set up for the meeting, I went to the men’s room. When I was done in the bathroom, I washed my hands and then squatted down to stretch. All I heard was a tear in the back of my suit pants. This was not a minor tear. I had torn my pants from the seam behind my derriere to my inseam. It was hard to walk without exposing my backside. The meeting was starting in ten minutes.

I was slated to present for about two hours of the three-hour meeting. I always loved these opportunities to show our wares, but some of our team members were anxious in these environments. Right before I was about to start, as people were settling in for the meeting, I went over to the table (rather shimmied over to the table), and said, “Look at this,” and showed them the rip in my pants. They all got a good laugh and it seemed to break the tension.

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.