There are many trials and tribulations, stresses and strains, that leaders will face. The litmus test of a par excellent leader, and an intimate, tender, human being, in my opinion, is your ability to:
1) Listen and take advice from those around you, and give heed to the voice within you, and admit when you are wrong
2) Take responsibility for being wrong
3) Have the courage to adapt, respond to change, and ultimately and most importantly, change yourself
Rejecting advice, refusing to discern when you are wrong, dispelling any notion of personal responsibility for the error you committed, and remaining steadfast in the eternal call and necessity to change, may look like and is an attempt to convey and portray strength, but in reality, it is the embodiment of weakness.
What leads to such intense defense of being right, when you are clearly wrong, is arrogance. Arrogance is more than a personalistic anomaly, a defect in morality, practically and not only metaphysically, it is the ultimate downfall to all greatness – whether it be a country or company, an individual human or a collective team.
With this in mind, humility is the highest moral, creates the greatest human, and the most effective leader. If humility was considered more of a sign of how great of a leader you are, and not how much revenue you generate, we would have greater leaders, and ultimately, greater revenue.
2012