The Power Of Humility Explains How High Achievers Are Rewriting Rules Of Leadership

Is there a relation between humility and high achievement? Are leaders born with humility or is it an acquired trait? Can humble leaders inspire employees to perform better? Is humility a sign of weakness or a strength in leaders?

PV Ramana Murthy's book The Power Of Humility provides a fresh perspective on how humble high achievers are rewriting the rules of leadership.

Here is an excerpt from The Power Of Humility:

One needs to understand integrative awareness before understanding integrative emotion, which is part and parcel of integrative awareness. Integrative awareness takes place when a person looks at a situation not from the point of view of ‘I, me and myself’ but from a 360-degree perspective. It’s like situational analysis in strategic management, where managers analyse the internal and external environments to understand the organization’s capabilities, its customers and the business environment.

The importance of such an approach is emphasized in the article ‘How to Demonstrate Calm and Optimism in a Crisis’ written by McKinsey Consultants, J. Brassey and M. Kruyt.

The authors write, ‘In a crisis, leaders must continuously process large amounts of complex information, contradictory views, and strong emotions.’ This requires awareness of what happens in the outside world (facts on the ground) and in the inside world (body and mind). Concepts in neuroscience that are closely related to this are ‘exteroception’ (sensitivity to stimuli originating outside of the body) and ‘interoception’ (sensitivity to stimuli originating inside the body). Effectively connecting situational awareness with self-awareness, our outer world with our inner, is what we call integrative awareness…’

The article cites the example of Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, who piloted his bird-hit aircraft to an emergency water landing, saving the lives of all the passengers on board: ‘Captain Chesley Sullenberger brought the process of integrative awareness alive when he landed his commercial plane in the Hudson River in 2009. After a bird strike cut both engines of his commercial flight soon after take-off, Captain Sullenberger demonstrated the ability to stay calm while facing fear. Instead of returning to the airport as air traffic controllers were advising, he paused and assessed that he couldn’t make it, landing instead in the river and saving the lives of all on board. The balancing of emotions with a rational and deliberate thought process that was exhibited by Captain Sully is something scientists call as metacognition.’

Integrative emotion, on the other hand, is part of integrative awareness and relates to all the stakeholders involved in a situation. It is about people—a kind of emotional concoction of empathy, compassion, confidence, resilience and fulfilment that helps us put the emotions, interests and well-being of others at the centre of our awareness. People who go the extra mile to help or support others in adverse situations are a good example of integrative emotion in action. Unless such people experience empathy, compassion, confidence, resilience and fulfilment, they cannot extend a helping hand to others.

An excellent example of someone who demonstrates integrative emotion is Suresh Narayanan of Nestlé India Ltd, who narrated to me an experience from early in his career when he was with Hindustan Unilever. ‘My first job was as a unit manager in Ahmedabad, heading around thirty-five-odd workers. It was a general management job for which I was responsible, and I was also responsible for developing the factory. However, within six months of my joining, they asked me to shut down the factory. They had to move the location, so I had to retrench the core team … You can imagine, it was a very, very difficult moment for a twenty-three-year-old youngster to make the move to shut down a factory. It was during this situation that I really understood the power of empathy, the power of listening and of trying to adapt myself to the situation and make compromises for the sake of those workers.’

The factory was eventually closed down. ‘But what remains with me to this day,’ Narayanan said, ‘is that the workers gave me a farewell rather than me giving them a farewell.’

While Narayanan had a job to do, his major focus was on the people and their emotions—their well-being, welfare, financial situation, families and future. It called for a combination of empathy, compassion, confidence and resilience, which eventually led to a feeling of fulfilment. No wonder Narayanan is regarded as an exceptional leader by all those who have worked with him.

Integrative emotion not only makes leaders aware of the emotional state of others, it also helps them become more committed. This explains the energy and enthusiasm of people like Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi. Where did their energy come from? While there could be other sources, part of it would have definitely come from integrative emotion. They were committed and responsible in whatever they did till their last breath, experiencing the beauty of a life of fulfilment and satisfaction.

Excerpted with permission from ‘The Power Of Humility’ by PV Ramana Murthy; and published by Harper Collins Publishers India. You can also join SheThePeople’s Book club on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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