Why Humble Leaders Celebrate Others’ Success
Humble leaders are, by definition, modest and self-effacing. In fact, if there’s a common thread across all the interviews I’ve done with humble leaders in this series, it’s that it’s never all about them. They’re just as quick to shine the spotlight on others.
Common Thread Among Humble Leaders
I thought about this during my conversation with humble leader Tim Thull, Senior Vice President and CIO of Medica. Tim made a simple, but powerful statement near the end of our interview: “Let’s not focus on ourselves all the time.”
Tim says his biggest achievements come from seeing other people’s successes. And those successes can be traced back to a collaborative approach that values the collective thinking around him. It’s an unassuming way of leading that focuses on the bigger goals and doing what’s right for the good of the whole.
Learning From A Successful CEO’s Leadership Style
Here’s what I learned about Tim’s humble leadership style from our conversation, as well as from my conversation with Bobbie McAdam, Medica’s Vice President of IT, who has reported to Tim for 11 years.
- There’s strength in the whole: Tim believes that more minds are always better. He encourages people to open up and to be open to others’ ideas. It’s what Bobbie calls a “strong sense and drive toward harmony.” It allows the team to find an answer that everyone can feel comfortable with.
- There’s strength in the individual: In a field like information technology, there can be a lot of pressure to get things done and check things off the to-do list. I was curious about how Tim is able to balance all that while still valuing people for who they are. He shared that he strives to learn about each person on his team as an individual — who they are, what they’re passionate about, and what they’re interested in, both inside and outside of work. When he gets to know them for who they are, he can make them feel valued for things that have nothing to do with achieving some sort of deliverable.
- Failure is a great teacher: For Tim, having an environment where it’s safe to try things out and potentially fail is paramount. It’s not that he seeks out failure; instead, it’s that he recognizes that failure is how people learn and grow. He also knows that creating a safe environment for failure starts with him: By opening up and showing people that he’s human, he makes it OK for everyone else to be, too. And as Bobbie points out, Tim’s ability to admit mistakes reveals his humility, self-awareness, and self-confidence. It’s a great model of what strength really looks like.
- It’s not about the title. Bobbie notes that while Tim respects authority, he’s not hierarchical. He doesn’t believe that a title makes him “better than anyone else.” One comment from Tim really underscored this point. He mentioned to me that mentors have been very important to his personal growth, but they’re not always “mentors” in the traditional sense. In fact, sometimes they’re the people he’s mentoring. “I always look at that as an opportunity for me to learn and grow.” The lesson? A mentor can be anyone, as long as we’re humble and open to the insights other people can offer us.
With five direct reports overseeing an IT department of nearly 250 people, Tim knows that his accomplishments are only possible because he’s built a collaborative environment of shared success and accountability. It’s not all about him. It’s about other people’s successes that he can help impact and change. And that’s a great way to describe what humble leadership is really all about. Check out five-minutes of highlights from my conversation with Tim here.
Comments are closed here.