It is important to understand that when you have humility, you don’t think less of yourself. All you’re doing is thinking of others first.
Everybody you will ever meet has the ability to increase their influence with you, and they also have the ability to teach you something. All you need to do is listen to understand them, and you will be influenced, and you will learn something new.
I have worked with hundreds of people in different parts of the UK in the engineering, automotive, rail, and personal growth industries. I love to help others learn and I also love to learn something new from others. Most of the people I have worked with were hard working and passionate.
With the people I have worked alongside and the people I have had the pleasure to meet throughout my career, I am very grateful to. Without them I would not be where I am now writing this article for you.
1. Leaders Are Learners
Since I was a child, I have always been interested in learning, and I have always loved to learn. So, when I finished school and I started an engineering apprenticeship when I was 16 years old, I had another opportunity to learn new things.
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You are reading this article, so I am confident that you love to learn too. Am I right?
I’ve always been a curious person, and when learning new things, I am always thinking of how we can make them better.
Especially when I started my apprenticeship and learning about processes to make car engines, I would love to think about how we can make it more efficient. I was only 16 so it was very unlikely that my ideas would be trialled. But I kept that curiosity about me for my career so far.
Having the mindset of a beginner is how you become curious. Are you a curious person right now? If you’re not then you need to, and you need adopt the mindset of a beginner.
You may already know people like yourself who have a very curious mindset. How you notice this is, the questions that a curious person will ask. They will keep on and on, asking why? why? why?
When I was a child and I kept asking my parents why? about lots of things, I would annoy them. I have friends of mine who were the same when they were a child. But they seem to have “grown out” of having that curious or beginner’s mindset.
I on the other hand love to have the mindset of a beginner and be curious, so there is no way I will be “growing out” of it.
2. Asking “Why?”
When you ask the question, “Why?”, that is when you learn the most. Why? is the question I like to ask the most, and it is a question that highly effective leaders to ask the most too.
The reason highly effective leaders like to ask Why? a lot is because they want to go beyond learning what the answer to the question is, they want to learn who the person is who is giving the answer. They want to understand the character of the person.
What you will learn as you grow is, sharing of knowledge is easy for some people and it is very difficult for other people.
There are people who are very happy to share their knowledge because they want to help you move forward in your life and keep growing. They want to help you learn new things, and help you share what you learn with others.
There are people who are not happy to share their knowledge because they don’t want you to know what they know. They are insecure people and if they share what they know with you, then you may become a threat to them. They will go out of their way to ensure you don’t know what they know.
Let’s focus on the people who are happy to share their knowledge and want to help you learn new things and move forward in your life.
3. Humility
These people have confidence in themselves and that is why they have no problem in sharing their knowledge with people. But, along with their confidence they have humility.
Humility is the difference between confidence and arrogance. These people work on themselves to become the most valuable they can be for others because they value helping others.
A humble leader has purpose to serve others and help their people. A humble leader works on their strengths every day, and their biggest strength is being a servant leader. Putting others before themselves is most important to a humble leader. I have worked with a small number of humble leaders, and the ones I have worked with I will never forget. They focussed on us and when things went wrong, they took responsibility, and when things went right, they gave us the credit. They understood that leadership is about others, but it starts with you. Working on yourself to become the most valuable leader you can be, so you can add the most value to others is how a humble leader lives.
There are also people who are happy to share their knowledge with others, however they don’t have humility. These are arrogant people who share their knowledge because they want to appear smarter than you.
They share their knowledge to put others down and raise themselves up. You will come across these types of people in your life, but hopefully not too many.
As I have stated before, the difference between confidence and arrogance is humility. I’m sure you know both types of people already.
Are you a confident person or an arrogant person? Who would increase their influence more, a confident person or an arrogant person? Which type of person would you prefer to be around, a confident person or an arrogant person?
To be a highly effective leader and to increase your influence in a positive way then you must be willing to share your knowledge with others. You must be willing to share your knowledge so you can help others learn and become better, not to put them down.
If you want to create the right future for yourself, would you rather create it with an arrogant attitude or a confident attitude? This decision can only be made by you, nobody else can make it for you.
4. Trust
Trust is the foundation of leadership, and if you want to lead and build trust with others, are you going to do that with an arrogant attitude or a confident attitude? Arrogant people focus on themselves, and confident people focus on others.
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People who only focus on themselves (arrogant people) don’t build trust with others and can’t increase their influence. People who focus on others (confident people) do build trust with others and increase their influence in a very positive way.
There are arrogant people who say that they know certain things when they don’t. So, they are telling lies to people because they want to appear smarter than they really are. By behaving like this they are creating more distrust with people.
All confident people will say they don’t know something because of their humility. Confident people value learning, but they also value helping others, and they don’t need to appear smarter.
Do you know any people who are a “know it all?” I do, and these types of people I can’t trust. The reason for that is they are being dishonest with us. People who are confident enough to acknowledge that they don’t know everything, and have humility are the people I like to be around the most.
I welcome hearing how this post has influenced the way you think, the way you lead, or the results you have achieved because of what you’ve learned in it. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by commenting below.
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All the best,
