The Dodo Club Newsletter (5th Edition) - Humility

5 Features of Appropriate Humility

A note from me

I’m just back from Singapore where I was doing some work with the National University of Singapore while my wife Mary spent Thanksgiving with her 93-year-old mother in the United States. We’re both back home in The Netherlands now, a little travel-weary and jet-lagged, with our bodies seemingly a full twelve hours out of sync with each other!

I arrived home a couple of days before Mary, and used some of the time to go to the cinema to watch the filmed production of Romeo and Juliet by the National Theatre.  It was stunning and I recommend it whole-heartedly to you. You possibly know that I love theatre and have been quite seriously involved with it for most of my life. All the performances were compelling, particularly those of Jessie Buckley as Juliet, Tamsin Greig as her mother, and Josh O’Connor as Romeo. What made it exceptional, however, was the clarity of the production and seeming naturalness of the poetic language in the flow of human activity and emotion. The director, Simon Godwin, deserves great praise. The only thing I missed was the clear sense that the tragedy of the star-crossed young lovers was significantly driven by the rigidity and arrogance of the older generation.  

Arrogance is the enemy of empathy, engagement and, ultimately, understanding. This is why the chosen topic for this edition of the Newsletter is its opposite – Humility.

5 Features of Appropriate Humility:

In our modern, individualistic societies, humility is often portrayed as a weakness or as insincere self-deprecation. In contrast, strength is the real essence of humility. It is the sufficient strength of character to view oneself honestly, without excessive self-regard, in relation to the importance of other people with other perspectives, so you can learn from them. This is why I highlighted humility as one of the five features of strategic character in the 1^st edition of this Newsletter.  

I believe the following features of Humility are worth emphasising:

1. Recognising that you are not the centre of the universe:

There is, of course, a reality that we are all individual centres of consciousness so, by default, place our own positions and experience centre-stage in our perspectives. Using the clunky phrase of Nobel Prize-winning behavioural economist Dan Kahneman, we generally act as though “What You See Is ALL There Is”. At some logical level, we know this isn’t the case, but it still takes deliberate attention to shift away from this deep self-centredness. You need to do this, however, if you are going to develop a rich picture of the world and future possibilities.

2. Acknowledging the significance and value of alternative perspectives:

Humility complements the scenario mindset that we explored in previous editions of this Newsletter as it is essential to truly engaging with alternative perspectives and hence alternative future possibilities. An appropriate humility encourages the effective exploration of insights from others alongside your own pre-existing assumptions. As the anthropologist Margaret Mead has said – “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else”.  

3. Appreciating that Pluralism is essential for enabling effective transformations:

Experience has guided me towards a framework for transformation that recognises a variety of both enablers and inhibitors. Engaging generously with those who may see the world differently is one of the essential enablers for both addressing the challenges that people perceive differently and also overcoming resistance from those who feel they are disadvantaged by change. Such a pluralist attitude is built on humility.

4.  Investing in trust-building:

Collaboration in one form or another is important for both effective scenario-building and effective transformations. But collaboration demands a degree of trust that others can be relied upon to do their part and that they can depend on you to do your part. Developing that trust requires time and joint experiences.  It takes investment and it takes continuity. My former company was often considered arrogant by small contractors. Much of this was the effect of time-limited assignments which meant that the contractors were regularly having to deal with new counter-parties in the company so mutual trust, understanding and respect were hard to build up and soon dispersed.

5.  Taking yourself out of the centre of attention: 

Even if you or your organisation is the catalyst for convening several parties, developing effective collaboration entails moving yourself or your positions from the centre of the table (see point 1) and instead participating as an equal party in addressing the shared issue that has brought all parties to the table. Again, this requires the humility to recognise the significance of the perspectives of others in driving their behaviours. My thanks to former colleagues for the great illustration of this point.

Question of The Fortnight

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Today’s question is:

Have you ever had to deal with very arrogant people, and what helped in this?

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