Staying the Course: Humility and Christian Leadership (2)

Staying the Course: Humility and Christian Leadership (1)

The Perils of Pride and the Fruit of Humility: A Contemporary Example
When it comes to leadership, much of the world rejects the idea that humility is essential for the task—yet it appears they do so at their own peril.  In his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, Jim Collins determined, based five years of rigorous collaborative research of eleven companies who made an enduring transition from “Good” to “Great,” that the success of these companies was due largely to the character of their CEOs.

These CEOs were not high-powered, charismatic, over-bearing, self-consumed leaders who required unquestioned authority and who reveled in their celebrity-like status.  On the contrary, in each of the eleven companies, the men who led their people and their institution to lasting success were consistently described by colleagues as “quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated” (Collins 2001, 27).  Far from being primarily concerned about personal affluence and reputation, these men took the helm of leadership with a desire to work first and foremost for the good of the company (Collins 2001, 21).

In contrast, the companies to which Collins and his team compared the eleven “Good to Great” companies—businesses who only enjoyed short-term success or encountered massive failure—were usually led by men who could not corral their ego.  Whether it was in overly ambitious acquisitions or in a failure to establish strong successors, these CEOs demonstrated they were more concerned for themselves—their money and their reputation as a great leader—than in the long-term achievement of the company.

Collins’ discovery of a consistent correspondence between humility in leadership and the stable success of an institution is further bolstered by recent developments in one of the “Good to Great” companies, Circuit City.  Despite a nearly thirty-eight year season marked by solid financial growth and steady success, Circuit City eventually came face-to-face with utter pecuniary ruin and filed bankruptcy on November 10, 2008.  In his latest work, How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In, Collins argues the demise of this once-great company (and others that have seen similar failure) can be characterized by a five-stage decline, beginning with what Collins calls a “Hubris Born of Success” (Collins 2009, 27).

Collins found that leaders of once-successful companies like Circuit City would often become enamored with their organization’s success to the point of assuming immunity from failure.  Success would then be seen as an entitlement rather than the fruit of hard-work, passion, discipline and sacrifice.  As companies like these enjoy marked accomplishment, their “people begin to believe that success will continue almost no matter what the organization decides to do, or not do” (Collins 2009, 43).  Collins calls this, “Success Entitlement.”  The Bible calls it pride.

Next: The Necessity of Humility in Christian Leadership