ACADEMIA Letters

Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership

choice and strategic multiplier!
Peter Devenish-Meares, Queensland University of Technology

Introduction
In this short paper, I focus on contemporary leadership from a reflective, even intrinsic
perspective and explore the value and choice of humility. As a leadership researcher and
chaplain cleric I explore humility as a leadership and personal enabler. Arguably it is also a
business driver. I deliberately offer some rather non-traditional yet positive, character-building
insights on healing and hope. The psycho-spiritual terms healing and hope are not business-
like terms, however I argue that they can help build optimism, resilience and transform and
strengthen the human condition at work.
I propose that humility can underpin the values, hope and healing in the workplace and
that it is enacted by honest self-awareness, facing up when things are not complete, searching
for assistance and addressing issues and needs with compassion and sensitivity. These choices
are arguably organisational and personal enablers. I deliberately offer them through the lens
of humility; a word we do not always think about in the context of leadership. Humility
is key because it strengthens self-honesty, builds relationships and engenders trust in teams
(Argandona, 2015).
Socrates said ’the unexamined life is not worth living’. More than this, there’s an old
theme receiving remarkable rehabilitation in enlightened business circles; humility. I call it
the ’multiplier effect of self-honesty’ or put another way, the ’unexpected “blessings of a new
kind of humility. Now a corporate governance leader, turned ordained minister, is going to
talk of “blessings” but I really mean it, in the sense of true personal and business integrity,
strategic gap analysis and remedial strategic effort that lead to meaningful and compassionate
change.
Humility

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Peter Devenish-Meares, devenip@hotmail.com

Citation: Devenish-Meares, P. (2021). Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership choice and
strategic multiplier!. Academia Letters, Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1553.

1
 Not long ago, I wrote about humility in a Defence journal about leaders caring for those
who are suffering and in their quest for helping and getting support not being afraid to ask
others for help or seek constructive input. I also said that no leader has all the answers and
we can do so much more together (Devenish-Meares, 2015). I also wrote to encourage re-
flective leadership approaches and workplace self-care approaches for the stressed - who can
be encouraged to search for meaningful solutions. I called humility then and still do now “an
enhancer: that develops leaders and supports personal resilience and recovery” (p. 68).
Humility is about sensible and compassion-focussed self-knowledge and recognition of
human frailty as much as it is about seeing mistakes, learnings and the future as true guides
as to what to do more of, do less of or simply start doing. Such sound self-awareness and
realistic thinking does not abolish true self-respect. It reduces the chances of coming across
as arrogant and helps us maintain perspective.
Humility due its self-awareness and self-honesty foci is really an attribute of leaders and
especially far-sighted people who are able to admit mistakes and learn from them even as
they plan for a clearer, more meaningful engagement. I contend that if taken seriously, hu-
mility helps leaders to stand back and make sense of reality. It also enables the leader to see
themselves and the team effort in truthful relief; and then act to adjust what is necessary.
Humility reduces the chances of coming across as arrogant and helps maintain perspective.
Humility is therefore an attribute of modest people who are able to admit mistakes. This is
also helpful to team work, as such people are unlikely to take undue credit for another’s work.
Moreover, humility has:
“…empowered organizational climate, and [was] associated with work engagement, ef-
fective commitment, and job performance”. (Ou, 2014, p. 36).
We are not talking about antiquated ways of being nor harsh self-judgments which can
lead to never ending circles of blame, even ‘unfocussed’ recriminations and so often, unhelpful
self-analysis. To be honest too, rather old and totally useless ideas so often positioned humility
as humiliation and self-flagellation. I have never seen a board nor a senior team who gained
all that much from such anti-values based or derisive analysis!!
Famous 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume went out of his way to deride hu-
mility and it has never really recovered with the exception of some emerging self-care research
for first responder workplaces (Devenish-Meares, 2019). Such negativity if taken seriously
and if combined with the imperative to un-reflected need for constant success mean that a
leader cannot ever admit a mistake let alone learn from it!! This is totally unhelpful for the
ambitious, clever, or even stressed executives who need to take note of what they didn’t do,
could have done better or asked others about!! In this, Fr Richard Rohr talks about humility
as having the eyes to see things as they really are and not as we would wish them to be (Rohr,

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Peter Devenish-Meares, devenip@hotmail.com

Citation: Devenish-Meares, P. (2021). Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership choice and
strategic multiplier!. Academia Letters, Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1553.

2
2007). Not dissimilarly, Andre Delbelcq (2006, p. 147) says:
“Humility begins with the daily willingness to accept criticism and be open to modification
of one’s own thinking as one’s concepts are subject to examination in exchanges with others”
I suggest that such openness and self-honesty are the start of truthful conversations and
honest self-assessment. This is highly useful and receiving increased notice in workplaces
especially aligned to the following themes:

• Living our values at work

• Change management

• Leadership reflection & self-assessment

• Modelling honesty and integrity: diagnosis of needs and owning up to mistakes so as

to fix them

Being curious
I suggest that humility is supported by being open and curious. Perhaps one reason we fail
to own up or to see setbacks as opportunities is because of not searching, fear of what we may
find and even wanting to impress others at work. I have seen over 40 years that not telling the
truth or at least not the whole truth about a result or performance outcome can be endemic.
This occurred for many reasons which include fear of being found out or worst, loss of face
or even dismissal. As Gino (2021) says powerfully in a Harvard-related presentation:
“We fear judgment, worry about the impression we’ll make on others if we ask questions,
or decide that exploring new ideas is a waste of time. But curiosity, it turns out, is critical
for thriving at work and in life -and losing it affects everything from our productivity to our
happiness”.
Being unafraid to see things as they are and search for creative options are vital actions.
In terms of these and as cited by Murch (2019, n. p), Morris, Brotheridge, and Urbanski
(2005) highlight three crucial three humility-related dimensions: self-awareness, openness
and transcendence which foster open, diverse and values based workplaces:

• “Self-awareness: Leaders must understand their strengths and weaknesses and be ob-
jective when evaluating their abilities and limitations”;

• “Openness: Being self-aware and honest, a leader must recognise there are situations
beyond his or her control. Therefore, leaders must be open to new ideas and ways of
thinking, especially when this presents as an opportunity to learn from others”;

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Peter Devenish-Meares, devenip@hotmail.com

Citation: Devenish-Meares, P. (2021). Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership choice and
strategic multiplier!. Academia Letters, Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1553.

3
 • “Transcendence: Transcendence is the aspiration and realisation that learning or a new
experience may allow a leader to surpass his or her usual limits. Reflecting on this will
allow the leader to gain a more informed perspective. With this, comes judgement and
wisdom”.

To these important I add, recalling earlier comments:

• Being curious – about why something has reallyoccurred and seeking new and creative
options

• Making values-based choice – being about self-scrutiny and seeing things as they re-
ally are

• Assessing one’s actions as a leader: are they fair, transparent and open to meaningful
scrutiny?

Valuing leadership and valuing employees

The business world often speaks about valuing employees, empowerment and being ‘em-
ployer(s) of choice”. Yet, I wonder if we truly reflect on such crucial action-oriented terms
when adverse issues arise, things degrade, failure occurs, people lose hope or become stressed.
I also speculate that being curious about and open to new ideas and facing up to stark real-
ity, for example, that we may have made errors, are not universally practiced. In this, I offer
humility, not as self-derision rather as a key, self-awareness and “owning up” and searching
collectively for better resilience ways (Devenish-Meares, 2016).
A key proposition of this paper is that each person is inherently precious and worthy of the
absolute best that their workplace can provide to support them. This may challenge traditional
views of leadership because it sees the leader not just as a manager, a so-called resource, rather
as an enabler of care and organisational goals. Much more than that, a leader is often one who
seeks meaning, satisfaction and personal outcomes even as they go about planning for and
achieving business outcomes.
However, they are going to mean a different form of leadership of a more reflective nature.
Leaders may not see a need to go beyond comfort zones and seek new ways to open themselves
up to incompleteness and then search for change-oriented actions. Thus paper contends that
humility may lead to a more values-focused workplace that also sees self-honesty, which it,
as a key enabler.
If taken seriously, humility, in the context of the above themes, can be the start of lasting
personal and organisational change. In my experience as a corporate leader, long-term board
member and senior chaplain, humility when coupled with integrity, clear strategic intent and

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Peter Devenish-Meares, devenip@hotmail.com

Citation: Devenish-Meares, P. (2021). Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership choice and
strategic multiplier!. Academia Letters, Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1553.

4
executory power is a force for not only good but for corporate accountability. I put it to you that
humility is a value-adding, self-assessing and choice-driven approach to reality and finding
new(er) courses of better action. In its raw and powerful entirety, again it is not for the faint
hearted!!
I have written many strategic plans and mission statements over 30 years, often alone or
with two others thinking we had it all, knew much or could fudge the rest. The risk is that
such effort is all the lesser for the lack of honest and necessary critique that any plan, outcome,
mission or KPI needs. You could even call humility a conscious leadership choice to know and
inform oneself, the unit, the whole company. In fact, humility is based on critical assessments
of individuals and team strengths and include successes and failures and honest assessments
of capabilities and weaknesses.
Humility is about seeing ourselves, our organisations and the past truthfully, learning vi-
tally from such insights and using them as crucial guides as to what to do more of, do less of or
to start doing. Frankly, humility is an enabler of rigorous self-assessment for leadership and
individuals. This means honest self-assessment and facing up to incompleteness and failure.
It is about the often-avoided true acceptance of reality - especially when things are incom-
plete. Militarily speaking, but no less true of the corporate scene, it augment the fully ‘fit to
act, to fight and to adapt’ concept. So to, if we take human resources and the care of staff
seriously, accurate self-assessment and self-acceptance are crucial for healing and recovery
of a suffering individual, and relate to seeking and maintaining treatment not to mention us
leaders asking: did we do all we can to ensure a safe, meaningful and caring workplace?
Lest we think it quant, pseudo-religious or easily able to be ignored, Amy Ou (2014) from
the National University of Singapore said that humility empowered organizational climate,
built work engagement, real commitment, and sound job performance. Then to take a military
example, yet immediately relevant to the corporate world, US Marine General John Kelly said
that the officer corps is made manifest by ‘humble, honest, morally courageous and trusted
men and women. Pointedly, General Kelly also speaks about humility in the true leadership
sense and here’s the kicker for business integrity; links it to the “appropriate” use of power,
the context or the environment and human resource retention (Farmer, 2010).
Summary
Humility is about sensible self-knowledge and recognition of human frailty as much as
it is about seeing mistakes, learnings and the future as true guides as to what to do more of,
do less of or simply start doing. Such sound self-awareness and realistic thinking does not
abolish true self-respect. It reduces the chances of coming across as arrogant and helps us
maintain perspective.
Humility is really an attribute of leaders and especially far-sighted people who are able to

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Peter Devenish-Meares, devenip@hotmail.com

Citation: Devenish-Meares, P. (2021). Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership choice and
strategic multiplier!. Academia Letters, Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1553.

5
admit mistakes and learn from them even as they plan for a clearer, more meaningful engage-
ment. Taken seriously, humility can become every leader’s choice to stand back and make
sense of reality. It also enables the leader to see themselves and the team effort in truthful re-
lief. This is because such self-kindly, inner awareness and rigorous self-knowledge can assist
in leadership engagement. It has also highlighted the emerging evidence that humility as a
personal choice can support holistic mental treatment regimens as people take stock and make
appropriate recovery action based on sound information.
Conclusion and recommendations
This brief article has proposed humility is a key choice that supports honest self-assessment
and reorientation in the midst of organisational change, personal hope and recovery, adjust-
ment and the movement to thriving. It began by locating the term humility in the context of
courage and resilience.
The paper has advanced the concept of humility as a self-care choice for business so as to
manage the incompleteness, change and performance issues that service life will inevitably oc-
casion. It has also advanced the concept in terms of assisting leaders to accurately self-assess,
without over-thinking or over-ruminating, in order to care for, engage, retain and develop their
teams.
Honest self-awareness is a key choice that all leaders can cultivate yet it will take consid-
erable self-assessment and truth speaking. Further correlational and causative studies on the
effect of humility, if any, on organisational values, success and treatment of employees are
recommended. Finally, this foundational, albeit reflective paper, advances humility and re-
lated values-based self-assessment choices for the betterment of life and for work. It is noted
that more conceptual studies and indeed, empirical research will be necessary to thoroughly
review and research the real-life effects of humility on leaders, on their actions and in terms
of their care of others.

References
Argandona, A. (2015). Humility in management. Journal of Business Ethics, 132(1), 63-71.

Delbelcq, A. L. (2006). The spiritual challenges of power humility and love as offsets to
leadership hubris. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 3(1-2), 147-.

Devenish-Meares, P. (2015). Chaplaincy in mental health treatment. Australian Defence

Journal, 196, 44-50.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Peter Devenish-Meares, devenip@hotmail.com

Citation: Devenish-Meares, P. (2021). Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership choice and
strategic multiplier!. Academia Letters, Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1553.

6
Devenish-Meares, P. (2016). Humble in Defence: A humility that challenges leaders and
supports personal courage, resilience, and recovery. Australian Defence Force Journal,
200, 68-78.

Devenish-Meares, P. (2019). The ‘tapestry’ of bricolage: Extending interdisciplinary ap-

proaches to psycho-spiritual self-care research. Methodological Innovations, Jan-April,
1-27.

Farmer, S. (2010). The humble leader. Armed Forces Journal, Dec, online. Retrieved from
http://armedforcesjournal.com/the-humble-leader/

Gino, F. (2021). The power of why: Unlocking a curious mind. Retrieved from TedX: https://
www.ted.com/talks/francesca_gino_the_power_of_why_unlocking_a_curious_mind

Morris, J. A., Brotheridge, C. M., & Urbanski, J. C. (2005). Bringing humility to leadership:
Antecedents and consequences of leader humility. Human Relations, 58(10), 1323–1350.
https:// https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726705059929

Murch, D. (2019). The power of humility. Retrieved from Cove Web-page (14 March 2019):
https://cove.army.gov.au/article/the-power-humility

Ou, A., et. al. (2014). Humble chief executive officers’ connections to top management team
integration and middle managers’ responses. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59(1),
34-72.

Rohr, R. (2007). Holding the tension: The Power of paradox [CD)]. Albuquerque, NM:
Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC).

_______________________________________

Dr Peter is a well-known chaplain, strategist and health board member. He is also an Ad-
junct Professor at the Queensland University of Technology and has served as an advisor
to governments and led state and national boards and strategic committees in health, ed-
ucation, community housing, pastoral care and human resources. Peter has a Doctor of
Business Administration in workplace self-care. He publishes and speaks at management
and strategic conferences on ethics, business integrity, leaders’ resilience, the meaning
of work, PTSD and self-care. He serves as a senior community chaplain and in a higher

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Peter Devenish-Meares, devenip@hotmail.com

Citation: Devenish-Meares, P. (2021). Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership choice and
strategic multiplier!. Academia Letters, Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1553.

7
 Army Headquarters. Peter is also Board chair of St John Ambulance Queensland

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Peter Devenish-Meares, devenip@hotmail.com

Citation: Devenish-Meares, P. (2021). Humility at work: a dynamic personal and leadership choice and
strategic multiplier!. Academia Letters, Article 1553. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1553.