Weekly Quote: Jan-Benedict Steenkamp On Humility

This week’s quote comes from the book Time To Lead by Jan-Benedict Steenkamp.

My workflow for quote posts is to pull what I’m going to write about at the beginning of the week, so I can spend some time reflecting on it. Humility is a complicated concept, one that has been around for millennia and has been the focus of some of history’s most respected philosophers and thinkers. So I was struggling a bit to wrap my brain around it.

Then, I had a breakthrough.

I spent yesterday afternoon at the playground with my wife and two children, enjoying the sunshine and breeze as Spring finally arrives in New England. As we returned home to prepare for dinner and the nightly routine, I thought about this quote and realized that I wasn’t thinking about myself at all at the playground. I wasn’t thinking about the projects I’m working on or the tasks I need to get done around the house. I had entirely focused my mind on my family’s happiness. I was present.

Humility starts here for me, with my family, and not just thinking about what they need but what I can offer them. Who I can be for them. How I can be a better father and husband, and how it all comes together to help me be a better person.

I’ve tried to express humility in my leadership style by doing my best to understand what the teams I work with need from me, by being forgiving when people make mistakes and supportive when times are tough.

I know I still have a lot to learn in all realms of my life around humility. As I said, it’s complicated. To take a deeper look at what it means to me, I’ve created a Day One entry on the subject and look forward to further reflection. I think I’ll be writing on this topic again in the future.

What does humility mean to you?