How Humility Can Help You Become Successful

One of the most off-putting traits that people can have is when they are egotistical and “all-knowing.”  We all have met these people who are audacious, self-confident to the point of being arrogant and who “know everything.”  It does not matter the circumstances, the subject or who they are speaking to, these people always know better than everyone else. 

Leaving aside any psychological analysis of their ego, there are 2 very good reasons why this approach is very detrimental to success.  The first is the obvious one: very few people appreciate being corrected, patronized and spoken to with such contempt and arrogance.  Over time, people will tend to avoid these audacious individuals unless they absolutely have to deal with them.

The second reason is much deeper and the more concerning one. 

There is a story about Henry Ford being called ignorant by a newspaper and his retaliation by suing them.  They claimed that regardless of his success in business, he was actually quite a stupid man that knew very little about the world.  The shocking thing is that Ford freely admitted this fact!  He stated that he knew how auto-making worked and how to make the best car for the American people and that most other subjects did not require his personal knowledge.  He further went on the state that on his desk were a series of buttons that called on the best experts in areas that he did now know about or understand.  He stated that he had no need to clutter up his brain with useless information when he could readily get it at a moment’s notice from the best minds of the time.

Henry Ford was expert in the areas of engineering and vehicle production but he understood that he was not expert in most areas, nor did he wish to be.  If he needed specialized knowledge, he knew that he was not the best person for this and he used the best minds available. 

He knew that he did not know.

Richard Branson the owner of Virgin Group and Mark Cuban, another billionaire businessman are famous for this trait.  They both carry notebooks with them and are known to say very little during meetings, preferring to hear the opinions of experts that know better than them.  On the show Shark Tank, Cuban regularly sits quietly and when asked merely states: “I am just listening,” until he understands enough to ask intelligent questions. 

These men understand that successful people cannot possibly know everything and generally do not want to.  They want to be expert in their areas of strength and to get other experts to supplement their knowledge where needed.  They ask open-ended questions and listen thoughtfully to the answers.  They show these people that they value their input and skills and that creates loyalty and a strong team spirit where everyone feels that their contribution is important.  They raise people up to the level of their potential.

Richard Branson owns hundreds of companies and few people are better at sales and marketing than him, but he freely admits that he is not an expert in almost all of the businesses’ day-to-day operations and that he provides business guidance to the experts in their respective fields and lets them run the businesses as they see fit.  He hires the best people for the job because he knows it is not him.

By being humble and admitting that others know more than them in so many areas, these three men have achieved incredible success by using that humility to lift up experts to vast business success.  If there were audacious and arrogant, they would be more closed-minded to new ideas and less attractive as leaders because that attitude tends to diminish people’s self-worth and de-motivate them. 

Instead, humility used with an open mind and respect for the knowledge of others is a powerful tool for success.