humility

To say that you are humble, destroys the very essence of what humility is all about. Striving to be authentically humble, is a commendable and expected characteristic of good leadership. The minute you start telling others just how humble you are, is the moment that you stop being that!

In my view humility is something that one should strive to be in thought and do in practice, but never say about yourself.

To be humble is not to think "nothing" or badly about yourself. Humility is sometimes mistaken for being the floor mat of friends, family and colleagues, or for allowing others to just walk over you, disregard and mistreat you. To be humble certainly does not mean that you have a low self esteem.  -In many ways humility is the exact opposite of arrogance. (See post 11/04/2012).

Humility is a way of thinking, an attitude, a way of being with and about yourself, that reflects some  understanding of your specific place and role in the bigger scheme of things. To be humble is to have a moderate estimation of your own importance, merits and abilities.

For me humility is all about appropriate smallness: -To know that you are not the answer to every problem, that you are not indispensable or irreplaceable and that you are definitely not the messiah for the situation!  It is being conscious of the fact that there have been talented and sharp leaders before you, and that there will surely be other, may be even more effective and talented one's after you........... It is also about being responsibly aware of the fact that you have a role to play.

You have an unique personality and abilities that could make a real difference! You have something to add to the bigger picture. We all have. We should to the best of our knowledge and ability, diligently make the difference that we were called to make, but we should do so with modesty and in appropriate smallness.

"Let other people praise you -even strangers; never do it yourself."  Proverbs 27:2 (Good News)