“If you don’t read you can’t lead.”

I heard this sage advice many years ago.  When you choose to read a book on leadership you get years of the author’s experience in less than 200 pages for under $20.  That’s a good investment.

If we choose not to read we are really choosing to lead based on our own limited experience and knowledge.  When we read we immediately broaden our understanding to include another person’s wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  And I have no doubt that the author’s content was influenced by many other people’s input in their life as well.  So, with the reading of a book we can acquire the wisdom of many other people, and, therefore, significantly improve our own leadership.

When we read we’re choosing to learn from someone else.  Humility is required to be able to learn from someone.  I believe that wise leaders can learn from many different sources.  It’s been said that “Wisdom shouts in the streets.”  If you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you can learn from almost anything.

Recently I was reading some non-business literature.  In fact, it was poetry.  To be more exact, it was a centuries old song sung at the wedding of a Middle Eastern king.  As I read this poetry I was stuck by the wisdom it contained for leaders today;

“Gird you sword on your side you mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.  In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds.”

There were a few thoughts that jumped out at me from this text.  The king was being encouraged to pick up his sword, ready for a fight, to clothe himself in splendor and majesty for the purpose of…

Truth, justice and humility.

Three key objectives for a “ruler” – aka “leader” – are truth, justice and humility.  Leaders need to “fight” for these things.  So what do leaders need to fight against in order to accomplish these objectives?

Lies, injustice and arrogance.

I believe in order to establish truth and justice in a company the leader needs to create a culture of humility.  So what is humility?  Humility is not synonymous with or even related to timidity or passivity.  There is nothing weak about humility.  Humility is simply recognizing that there is more you don’t know than you know, and you need the input of other people in order to learn.

Humble leaders, humble people for that matter, are bold learners who are empathetic to the needs of others.  Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.

A culture of humility is a culture where people are willing to learn from each other.  People are hungry to grow to become the best they can be and recognize they need the input of others to do that.  In light of that, humble leaders know that they do not have the answers to everything.  And, they understand they do not have the answers to everything because the answers are in the group.

Not only that, they recognize that they have blind spots – areas of weakness that they don’t see clearly and they need the perspective of others to be able to see and then overcome their weaknesses.  A culture of humility is one in which people work together for the corporate good. Personal egos are in check as people treat each other like “customers” determining how best to help each other accomplish their objectives.

In a culture of humility it’s not about “me”, it’s about “you” and “us”.

It is the leader who must lead by example to create a culture of humility.

It’s within a culture of humility that truth can be established internally and externally for the benefit of staff and customers, and justice can be established in the same way for staff and customers.  These will enable your company, in the words of the poet, to achieve “awesome deeds.”

So, how do you accomplish awesome deeds in and through your business?  Establish a culture of humility where truth and justice reign for the benefit of employees and customers.