So How Is Humble Leadership Different?

To make organizations more effective, to lead what has increasingly come to be labeled “culture change” or “transformation,” the relationship between the emergent leader and the organizational followers who will implement the changes has to become a more personal and cooperative Level 2 relationship. We are already seeing a drift toward Level 2 relationships as doctors with patients, product designers with their customers, teachers with their students, and team leaders with their members are discovering that things work better and are emotionally more satisfying when the relationship becomes more personal.

Level 2 personal, open, and trusting relationships have to be developed throughout workgroups to facilitate cultural transformations and build the innovative capacities that the VUCA world will require. Those work relationships may sometimes even drift into varying degrees of Level 3 intimacy, depending on the nature of the task, as in high-stakes operations carried out by military groups such as Navy Seal teams or Army Special Forces, even though Level 3 relationships may still be deemed inappropriate in hierarchical systems such as offices or hospitals.

Various forms of Humble Leadership have existed throughout history when the task required it. Some examples follow.