In today’s world, almost all of us are losing humility and have started seeing it as a sign of weakness. Especially the startup founders who believe in ‘fake it till you make it’ mantra, it comes as a distant virtue. Sometimes people often link it with ‘under-confidence’ which is not true. A humble person can be confident. And a mix of both these virtues is what a startup founder needs.
While confidence helps you move in the right direction, humility is what brings people on-board with your vision. Thus humility in founders is an absolute must to keep the company together and progressing. And here are three compelling reasons:
A humble person doesn’t throw around the weight of his power
As a founder, you will have lots of employees to look for and while shouting at folks to put them back in their place sounds as the easiest way to demonstrate power, the most important thing to remember is that this way you are only weakening the ties with your own work-family. Once your startup has employees, you are not just a founder, you are a leader of that organisation.
And so if you are arrogant, your harsh words can make employees want to quit. If you are a humble leader on the other hand, your criticism will make them feel guilty. So while it is important to tell your folks when they are wrong, it is necessary to choose which way to do it. If need be to criticize, then do that humbly in private. Make sure you don’t arrogantly humiliate them publicly.
Humility can make your employees feel valued
Most CEOs often forget that their victories are usually their team effort and not just an individual accomplishment. A lot of times we forget to credit the team. Celebrate victories with them. If you are humble and give them an equal share in your team’s win, they will feel valued.
Humble persons can make better decisions
People know it is very difficult to take things through an arrogant person’s head because he gives little value to others’ opinion. But a humble person looks at all scenarios carefully and then makes a decision. An arrogant person might have preconceived notions and might not be data driven. But a humble person will value data from his team members over his personal gut feeling and then come with a conclusion. Even board members, investors and potential partners want to work with a reasonable humble businessman and not an arrogant founder.
If you have any queries, write to Rajeev@TBSPlanet.com
Rajeev Tamhankar is IIT-R Alumnus, Entrepreneur of The Year’17 (Print Business) and the Founder of TBS Planet Comics
Rajeev Tamhankar
Twitter @rajeevtamhankar
Rajeev Tamhankar is IIT-R Alumnus, Entrepreneur of The Year’17 (Print Business) and the Founder of TBS Planet Comics