How To Best Make Bold Moves
How To Best Make Bold Moves
How To Best Make Bold Moves
How To Best Make Bold Moves
Leadership requires bold humility. Leaders must put the organization above their own needs and ego, and they must also know how to fully deploy the capabilities and resources of the organization — including their own gifts — toward the need at hand.
I finally had the audience I wanted — the Chairman, CEO, and the executive committee — everyone most vested in seeing how our bank could emerge from the 2008 banking crisis and begin to thrive again. I explained how investing in our digital consumer banking tools would lead to growth and profitability. I declared, “The key differentiator for banks over the next 10 years would be the ability to aggregate accounts for customers all in one place, allowing them to view and transact across accounts, and across financial institutions.” I went on to say, “This will become table stakes to serve customers in 10 years and if we don’t do this our company would be at risk.”
Our executive chairman said he did not believe people would trust the technology or see the need for managing all their accounts in one place, declaring, "I would never want that, and I am not sure others will either.” Fifteen years later, his statements held much more true than mine, while many people have adopted this technology it has yet to be a key differentiator for a market leader. You see, even though many consumer technologists were making claims like mine, Mike Rose knew a lot about technology adoption curves, people’s reluctance to change, and people's reluctance to have all their financial eggs in one basket.
I continued to bolster the case over the next few months, believing that I could convince the rest of our executives to support this bold move, even declaring, "If we don’t run digital banking as its own business channel, you don’t need me!” Guess what? The company took me up on that offer!
During that time, I learned to stop placing boldness and innovation over listening, patience, and humility. A decade or so later, I learned it is possible — in an attempt to be humble — to surrender what is good to the wrong people.
Humility Is Not Reckless Surrender
In another case, I over-corrected my previous tendencies and surrendered my influence and gifts in an attempt to serve an institution for a cause I cared for deeply. I surrendered my right to clarify and champion the initiative, which in turn caused miscommunication. All the misinformation led to fractured relationships and the initiative ultimately failed. The lesson I learned is this: do not surrender your gifts or capabilities that are necessary to the mission — especially when values and commitment levels of all parties are not aligned. Surrendering needlessly can be a waste of gifts.
A Bold Humility Is Needed
The takeaway from these cases is that leadership requires bold humility. Leaders must put the organization above their own needs and ego, and they must also know how to fully deploy the capabilities and resources of the organization — including their own gifts — toward the need at hand.
Level 5 Leadership
Jim Collins, author of Good To Great, calls this Level 5 Leadership. “The Level 5 leader sits on top of a hierarchy of capabilities and is, according to our research, a necessary requirement for transforming an organization from good to great. The Level 5 leader builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical combination of personal humility plus professional will.” The Level 5 leader can take their own preferences out of the equation and focus on the needs of the organization — the people — they serve.
Consider Esther And Mordecai
Esther and Mordecai lived in a time when Jews were in exile from Israel living under the rule of a Persian king. One day, the king was in a drunken stupor and had his wife executed. Then, he held an outrageous beauty pageant to select a new queen. Esther entered the beauty pageant, hid the fact she was a Jew, and she won the contest!
After some time, the king was tricked into an edict eradicating all Jews. Mordecai, her uncle, learned of this and summoned her help, confident the Jews would somehow be saved. Mordecai sent this message to Ether when his plea for her help was met with resistance.
“Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:13-15
Esther understood and moved into action as she sent back this message to Mordecai:
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” – Esther 4:16
Mordecai went away and carried out all Esther's instructions and the Jews were saved. While many of their actions and practices were questionable, both Esther and Mordecai were faithful to their people, and God chose to save His people from destruction, as Esther and Mordecai demonstrated bold humility in action. Esther and Mordecai may have had mixed motives, but they are a great example of Level 5 leadership centuries before Jim Collins ever defined this important leadership attribute.
Beyond Level 5: Bold Humility Is Centered In Christ
John Piper says, “Boldness is not a personality trait, but a miracle of God’s Spirit.” I think the same is true of humility. Humility is not something you strive for — it is received from God. Piper cites G.K.Chesterton’s insightful description of how humility has been hijacked in his book Brothers We Are Not Professionals.
“What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert — himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt — the Divine Reason… We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.” – G.K Chesterton
You see, humility is not throwing away conviction or boldness as speak and act. Humility is centering your life on the truth of God instead of your personal needs and preferences. The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). The leader who centers their life on Christ will be bold and they will be humble because they will be imitating Jesus, the most bold and humble leader in the history of the world.
Bold Humility Is Practical
We can apply bold humility in life and work everyday when our faith and hope are centered on Christ. “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold” (2 Corinthians 3:12).
Here are 3 keys to bold humility and some resources that cover them thoroughly.
1. Bold Humility sees every moment as spiritual – When, like King David, we see every moment as spiritual, we can slay the giants in our lives. See Humble Boldness in Action
2. Bold Humility is guided by truth and conviction – Chick-fil-A sticks to their convictions about truth to guide their business regarding when to work, how much to pay, and even their human resource policies. See Work Is Redemptive
3. Bold humility puts others first – Bob Moore of Bob’s Red Mill could have given up when a fire burned down their business, but instead he kept going and turned Bob’s Red Mill into a company that sells over $100 million in whole grain products annually. See Business Model Busting For Good
Resources
I finally had the audience I wanted — the Chairman, CEO, and the executive committee — everyone most vested in seeing how our bank could emerge from the 2008 banking crisis and begin to thrive again. I explained how investing in our digital consumer banking tools would lead to growth and profitability. I declared, “The key differentiator for banks over the next 10 years would be the ability to aggregate accounts for customers all in one place, allowing them to view and transact across accounts, and across financial institutions.” I went on to say, “This will become table stakes to serve customers in 10 years and if we don’t do this our company would be at risk.”
Our executive chairman said he did not believe people would trust the technology or see the need for managing all their accounts in one place, declaring, "I would never want that, and I am not sure others will either.” Fifteen years later, his statements held much more true than mine, while many people have adopted this technology it has yet to be a key differentiator for a market leader. You see, even though many consumer technologists were making claims like mine, Mike Rose knew a lot about technology adoption curves, people’s reluctance to change, and people's reluctance to have all their financial eggs in one basket.
I continued to bolster the case over the next few months, believing that I could convince the rest of our executives to support this bold move, even declaring, "If we don’t run digital banking as its own business channel, you don’t need me!” Guess what? The company took me up on that offer!
During that time, I learned to stop placing boldness and innovation over listening, patience, and humility. A decade or so later, I learned it is possible — in an attempt to be humble — to surrender what is good to the wrong people.
Humility Is Not Reckless Surrender
In another case, I over-corrected my previous tendencies and surrendered my influence and gifts in an attempt to serve an institution for a cause I cared for deeply. I surrendered my right to clarify and champion the initiative, which in turn caused miscommunication. All the misinformation led to fractured relationships and the initiative ultimately failed. The lesson I learned is this: do not surrender your gifts or capabilities that are necessary to the mission — especially when values and commitment levels of all parties are not aligned. Surrendering needlessly can be a waste of gifts.
A Bold Humility Is Needed
The takeaway from these cases is that leadership requires bold humility. Leaders must put the organization above their own needs and ego, and they must also know how to fully deploy the capabilities and resources of the organization — including their own gifts — toward the need at hand.
Level 5 Leadership
Jim Collins, author of Good To Great, calls this Level 5 Leadership. “The Level 5 leader sits on top of a hierarchy of capabilities and is, according to our research, a necessary requirement for transforming an organization from good to great. The Level 5 leader builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical combination of personal humility plus professional will.” The Level 5 leader can take their own preferences out of the equation and focus on the needs of the organization — the people — they serve.
Consider Esther And Mordecai
Esther and Mordecai lived in a time when Jews were in exile from Israel living under the rule of a Persian king. One day, the king was in a drunken stupor and had his wife executed. Then, he held an outrageous beauty pageant to select a new queen. Esther entered the beauty pageant, hid the fact she was a Jew, and she won the contest!
After some time, the king was tricked into an edict eradicating all Jews. Mordecai, her uncle, learned of this and summoned her help, confident the Jews would somehow be saved. Mordecai sent this message to Ether when his plea for her help was met with resistance.
“Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:13-15
Esther understood and moved into action as she sent back this message to Mordecai:
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” – Esther 4:16
Mordecai went away and carried out all Esther's instructions and the Jews were saved. While many of their actions and practices were questionable, both Esther and Mordecai were faithful to their people, and God chose to save His people from destruction, as Esther and Mordecai demonstrated bold humility in action. Esther and Mordecai may have had mixed motives, but they are a great example of Level 5 leadership centuries before Jim Collins ever defined this important leadership attribute.
Beyond Level 5: Bold Humility Is Centered In Christ
John Piper says, “Boldness is not a personality trait, but a miracle of God’s Spirit.” I think the same is true of humility. Humility is not something you strive for — it is received from God. Piper cites G.K.Chesterton’s insightful description of how humility has been hijacked in his book Brothers We Are Not Professionals.
“What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert — himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt — the Divine Reason… We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.” – G.K Chesterton
You see, humility is not throwing away conviction or boldness as speak and act. Humility is centering your life on the truth of God instead of your personal needs and preferences. The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). The leader who centers their life on Christ will be bold and they will be humble because they will be imitating Jesus, the most bold and humble leader in the history of the world.
Bold Humility Is Practical
We can apply bold humility in life and work everyday when our faith and hope are centered on Christ. “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold” (2 Corinthians 3:12).
Here are 3 keys to bold humility and some resources that cover them thoroughly.
1. Bold Humility sees every moment as spiritual – When, like King David, we see every moment as spiritual, we can slay the giants in our lives. See Humble Boldness in Action
2. Bold Humility is guided by truth and conviction – Chick-fil-A sticks to their convictions about truth to guide their business regarding when to work, how much to pay, and even their human resource policies. See Work Is Redemptive
3. Bold humility puts others first – Bob Moore of Bob’s Red Mill could have given up when a fire burned down their business, but instead he kept going and turned Bob’s Red Mill into a company that sells over $100 million in whole grain products annually. See Business Model Busting For Good
Resources