Humility: The Newest Vice?

Humility, especially in East Asian culture, is viewed as a cardinal trait. Being humble is ingrained in youth, and in everyday life, it’s encouraged to exalt the accomplishments of others over celebrating your own. Throughout my own life, my parents have said this time and time again. Every time a classmate boasted about their grade on the test or bragged about their stats in a basketball game, they were shown as an example of what not to follow. This ingraining of arrogance as a vice and humility as a virtue instilled them as my core beliefs.

Humility isn’t only praised in my household. Christianity, too, has humility engraved in its roots. In Hebrew scriptures, there were already mentions of how being humble was a virtue. Take this scripture praising Moses from the Torah as an example: “Moses was exceedingly humble, more so than any person on earth (Bamidbar 12:3).” As time went on, humility became embroiled in Christian scripture as well. From St. Augustine: “[The] way to Christ is first through humility, second through humility, third through humility (Letters 118:12).”

Nonetheless, in recent years, there has been a pervading concept in business: humility can cause leaders to appear meek. Humble leaders can be perceived as “indecisive”, limiting both their own and their team’s development (Harvard Business Review 2024). Being unable to delegate work, deflecting praise, and democratizing decisions can be taken as a sign of weakness or a lack of conviction. This notion has floated from corporate environments to private relationships, causing partners and friends to question whether they should oversell themselves. Perhaps, with the introduction of new research, humility is a vice rather than a virtue. But how much truth is there to these claims?

To dive deeper into the debate, it’s important to first distinguish between different types of humility. First, there is humility of skill. This is straightforward: being modest about how adept you are at a certain task or activity. Next comes familial humility, which is being humble to elders and parents. Also easy to understand and accept. However, the type of humility that is most relevant here is intellectual humility—reflecting on your knowledge and building from others (Chandra 2023). This is particularly important in the working world, as there are plenty of collaborative opportunities that require this sharing and reflecting of information.

It is this intellectual humility that carries so much weight in workplace interactions. Managers who are humble intellectually may concede points, take a step back in discussions, and even accept plenty of suggestions from their workers, which may seem meek (Harvard Business Review 2024). Nevertheless, while overdoing any of these behaviors is troublesome (seeking approval, not projecting ideas publicly, discrediting oneself, and apologizing excessively are all signs of humility gone too far), they don’t inherently make you a bad leader. They only allow the questioning of how adamant their decision-making is, and how much power they hold. This should not be enough to outweigh humility’s benefits in a team setting. In fact, being intellectually humble could even be a sign of good leadership, as sharing credit and allowing everyone to have a say are commonly lauded collaboration skills. To be a successful leader, the team must work together cohesively, which means that smooth collaboration is likely an indicator of strong leadership.

The impact of humility is not limited to the workplace. Relationships can also be affected. Various studies show that people often hide success from the people closest to them, whether it be their family, friends, or partners, in the hope that they avoid envy from these individuals (UNC Kenan-Flagler 2021; Roberts & Levine 2021). Although this is done with good intentions, it can easily backfire when the person finds out. This makes them feel like they are being controlled and told what to feel, which may exacerbate feelings of jealousy. Despite that, humility doesn’t have to be about hiding information because of potential jealousy from close ones. There are different levels of humility; withholding achievements or refusing to accept praise takes it to the extreme. A simple nod of acknowledgment when receiving compliments can also demonstrate humility and does so in a way that both parties understand each other while maintaining a sense of modesty.

Dissenters say that arrogance can be seen as attractive compared to humility, and make leaders look charismatic (Murphy 2015). Overconfidence appeals to subordinates, as leaders seem more capable and ambitious, a level above everyone else. Naturally, employees will want to follow in their footsteps. However, someone who is overconfident won’t set realistic goals and will pressure the team excessively, leading to inefficiency and low morale when agendas aren’t completed. Overdoing the boasting will cause leaders to lose charisma and sour relationships with coworkers. Simply put, nobody likes a braggart. Therefore, it is important to include techniques with intellectual humility and ambition in leadership to strike a balance between both sides.

Although many companies nowadays approach humility as a vice—believing in a leader who must be headstrong, iron-willed, and most importantly, always right—being modest is a skill that can generate feedback from others, allowing improvement. Without humility, leaders wouldn’t be able to improve, so companies should focus on teaching leadership skills connected to humility, rather than scrambling to hire the next overambitious hot-shot.

References

Alter, Robert. 2018. The Hebrew Bible. New York, NY: WW Norton.

Chandra, Ravi. “The Eight Kinds of Humility That Can Help You Stay Grounded.” Greater Good. Greater Good Magazine, August 22, 2023. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_eight_kinds_of_humility_that_can_help_you_stay_grounded.

Harvard Business Review. “Beware the Risks of Too Much Humility.” Harvard Business Review, March 14, 2024. https://hbr.org/tip/2024/03/beware-the-risks-of-too-much-humility.

Murphy, Sean C., William von Hippel, Shelli L. Dubbs, Michael J. Angilletta Jr., Robbie S. Wilson, Robert Trivers, and Fiona Kate Barlow. “The Role of Overconfidence in Romantic Desirability and Competition.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 41, no. 8 (June 8, 2015): 1036–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167215588754.

Roberts, Annabelle R., Emma E. Levine, and Ovul Sezer. “Hiding Success.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 120, no. 5 (May 2021): 1261–86. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000322.

UNC Kenan-Flagler. “Being Too Humble Can Hurt You.” UNC Kenan-Flagler, March 11, 2021. https://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/news/being-too-humble-can-hurt-you/.