Humility
A leader with a heart of arrogance cannot succeed; a leader with a heart of humility cannot fail.
As you watch the 2011 Western Conference and Eastern Conference NBA Finals, you will find two great players under the age of 24 leading their teams, by example and by performance. Kevin Durant, 23, of the OKC Thunder and Derrick Rose, 22, of the Chicago Bulls have demonstrated the capacity, at a
young age, to challenge the NBA’s best—and win.
Durant and Rose have much in common. Relentless energy. Exceptional skills developed after thousands of hours of practice. Toughness and tenacity. And, most importantly, they share the essential leadership quality of humility.
Consider Durant’s response to recent criticism of his teammate, Russell Westbrook. Westbrook, through 10 playoff games hadshown a tendency to take too many shots, making way too few of them as well. He made poor decisions, taking selfish shots and leaving Durant—the NBA’s leading scorer—out of the offense. When the media approached Durant, to see what his response would be to his teammate’s selfish play, Durant responded, “We are all in this together.”
When Rose found his team tied 48‐48 at the end of the first half in a playoff game with the Miami Heat, Rose, knowing that they should be winning, responded by telling his teammates, “It’smy fault.” Rose took responsibility, blaming himself for making too many turnovers. As the point guard, Rose stated, it was “his
job to take care of the ball.” (In the second half, the Bulls blew out the Heat. Fueled by Rose’s leadership, the Bulls made only one turnover in the entire second half.)
Arrogance seeks to make an impression. Humility seeks to make an impact. Arrogance focuses attention on its own successes. Humility focuses attention on others’ success. Arrogance leads to division. Humility leads to unity. Arrogance causes foolish behavior. Humility creates wise behavior.
A leader with a heart of arrogance cannot succeed; a leader with a heart of humility cannot fail.
In the Bible, the most desirable quality in all of humanity is humility: The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.
Proverbs 22:4 Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." I Peter 5:5 What is your focus on the court? In life? Is it about you or
about others? Do you demand that other’s pay attention to your successes or do you look for ways to draw attention to other’s successes? Do your actions divide the team or unite it? The answers to these questions will reveal whether you are a leadership success or a leadership failure.