“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
These words are from one of the world’s great scientists Sir Isaac Newton who changed the way we look at the universe, discovering the laws of gravity and motion. And yet he knew how little he really knew when measured against the great undiscovered ocean of truth. He once said, “if I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
Newton was a humble man. While knowing more than most of us, he also knew how little he really knew. Humility is one of the great virtues because it shows the wisdom which understands the limits of our knowledge but also the openness to finding new ways of thinking – progress, in words.
The opposite of humility is pride, thinking oneself wiser and better than others, putting oneself at the center of the universe. In some traditions, pride is the source of evil. The Book of Proverbs, for example, notes that “when pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).
Not all that long ago people believed the earth was the center of the universe. It took a telescope and Galileo looking through it to see we were actually circling around the sun with other planets. Some resisted this new understanding because they realized it would change their understanding of the importance of human beings and their place in the universe. It required humility to make the transition to a new understanding.
Jeff Boss, a leadership consultant, describes some of these characteristics of a humble person in a 2015 Forbes magazine article entitled “13 Habits of Humble People.” He writes that humble people “just don’t feel the impetus to boast about themselves but instead, let their actions speak for their ideals. To be humble is not to think less of oneself, but to think of oneself less.”
Among the 13 habits of humble people Boss lists these:
* They have emotional intelligence and assess how their words and actions impact others.
* They build and retain relationships, not destroy them.
* They base decisions on shared decisions, not just their own needs.
* They put others first.
* They listen.
* They’re curious.
* They speak their minds.
* They take time to say thank you.
* They have an abundance mentality; that is, they don’t need to win or make others lose.
* They start sentences with “you” rather than “I”.
* They accept feedback.
* They assume responsibility.
* They ask for help.
If you want to know if your organization or leader is humble, ask yourself how many of the 13 qualities Boss lists describes them. As he concludes: “Humility displays a willingness to learn and become better – two things that everybody should cultivate.”
John C. Morgan is a teacher and writer whose columns appear in this newspaper and others.
