Egocentric daffodils are inferior in their productivity to humble leaders.

How productive is the quality of character in a working atmosphere like humility? This is surprising, but the results of a study of 150+ small and medium-sized businesses have shown that:

• under the leadership of a humble leader, the top staff of the company is inspired to cooperate, exchange experience and dedication;
• the leader's humility is contagious: followers begin to imitate their leader;
• Following the example of a humble leader, employees are more willing to admit their mistakes and limitations of their capabilities;
• lose their inclination to ascribe merit to themselves, and share them with fellow soldiers;
• employees are also open to new ideas, advice and feedback.

So what of this? How practical is this for us? This article from the Harvard Business Review explains why self-centered daffodils are inferior to a humble leader. Why, however, we tend to give preference to narcissus, rather than to humble leaders. And it also gives good advice that will help us create a healthy atmosphere in the workplace - even if we are ordinary employees there. An atmosphere in which we ourselves will be pleasant and comfortable to work.

Humble, modest leaders create a healthy atmosphere of cooperation around themselves, which leads to improved long-term organizational prospects. These leaders:

• a holistic view of themselves;
• they clearly understand their strengths and weaknesses;
• able to appreciate the strengths of other people and their contribution to the common cause;
• they are also truly open to new ideas and feedback;
• these "unsung heroes" help their followers to find themselves and overcome themselves;
• create a team spirit that promotes the unification of individual efforts into a single productive channel favorable for each team member individually, and the entire team as a whole.

What attracts us so charismatic daffodils

At the same time, by a strange coincidence, we ignore the positive example of humble leaders, “unsung heroes”, and are enchanted by superheroes: applauding narcissus sparkling leaders, radiating an “attractive to emulate the image of an effective leader.” Their high energy, non-standard behavior, bold vision of the future and recklessness.

All these seemingly attractive traits of the leader-narcissus character are crossed out by the tendency to abuse power, exploit the wards, to be arrogant, to pursue exclusively mercenary goals; lack of empathy, a strong sense of exceptional righteousness. In addition, the leader’s narcissism paralyzes the team’s ability to share valuable experiences; and adversely affects teamwork performance.

Therefore, our choice in favor of the leaders of the narcissus is highly irrational. We do it only because of the influence of the narcissist leader’s charisma, which is expressed in the ability to emit an “attractive to emulate image of an effective leader”; and in the ability to attract the attention of the public. However, not only narcissus leaders have charisma, but also mortal leaders. That's just their charisma is fundamentally different - it encourages to take care of the interests of the whole team, and not about their ambition.

If humble leaders are more effective, why don't they attract us?

If humble leaders are more effective than narcissus leaders - why do we often give preference to the latter? The fact is that when people are unsure of themselves or experience some other psychological crisis, they are more likely to make an irrational choice in favor of a superhero-narcissus; without being aware of the adverse effects that this has. Followers of superheroes admire their skill.

Thanks to their charisma, narcissus leaders turn the working atmosphere into a competitive game, where their followers also become more egocentric; leading to organizational narcissism. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the leaders of narcissus are very interested in maintaining an atmosphere of anxiety and uncertainty - since this atmosphere represents the ideal conditions for the team to perceive the charisma of the narcissist leader, idolize him and push him upstairs. This is what narcissus seeks, and therefore maintains an appropriate atmosphere. As such an atmosphere thickens, the collective's ability to rationally choose a humble leader becomes less and less. As a result, economic and social crises are becoming commonplace.

What are we ourselves, are our leaders

So, being internally insecure individuals (each of us suffers to some extent), we will most likely make an irrational hopeless choice in favor of a narcissus leader. The rational choice in favor of a humble leader is made only by those who are guided in their lives by a clear set of genuine values. However, the tendency to make an irrational choice is very understandable. During a crisis, it is easy to be seduced by superheroes who will come and save us; but it is just as difficult to appreciate the fact that even greater danger may follow this salvation.

At the same time, although this development may seem hopeless, you can look at it from another angle. In fact, we deserve the leaders we have; what we are, our leaders are. Therefore, if we change ourselves, then our leaders will change. By making a conscious choice toward humility, not narcissism, we can make positive changes. So the choice is ours.

It is clear that “leadership through humility” is rare even in charitable organizations, not to mention commercial ones. And nevertheless, please share stories with positive life stories (in the comments), when you nevertheless have come across manifestations of “leadership through humility” at work (especially if this experience was gained within a mature DevOps team).