Posted on Dec 23, 2013

Humility as a corporate value. Can it make a difference?

Values commonly associated with corporations include: innovation; excellence; leadership; and of course achievement (or results). These values represent the fuel that powers a business to keep moving forward.

But what about a soft value like humility? Can such a value create a competitive advantage?

Some view this value negatively, suggesting it signifies submissiveness, lowliness, or being overly modest. Others consider humility a value only for religion.

I think they are missing the point.

Humility Defined

As a differentiating value, Humility means a disposition to be humble; or a lack of false pride. This can be embraced by an individual or groups of individuals within an organization.

Note that humility doesn’t mean the absence of pride. In other words, it’s ok for employees to feel pride over a job well done.

What’s harmful is false pride – the type of pride when a co-worker says:

“That’s not the way we do things around here.”
“Our competitor’s product is crap. Everyone knows ours is the best.”
“If the customer doesn’t like it, tell them to go somewhere else.”

When employees are open to receiving feedback, trying new ideas, and willing to learn from others, they likely possess more humility than false pride. In such cases, it can even prove to be a competitive advantage if it’s absent from competitors.

Humility in Big Business

One company that includes humility as a core value is the Kellogg Company.

Kellogg’s lists 6 values that define their company culture: Integrity, Accountability, Passion, Simplicity, Results, and of course, Humility.

What’s interesting is their description of this value. They reference humility as follows:

We have the Humility and Hunger to Learn

Value openness and curiosity to learn from anyone, anywhere
Seek and provide honest feedback
Be open to personal change and continuous improvement
Learn from mistakes and successes in equal measure
Never underestimate our competition

The Kellogg Company is #192 on the list of Fortune-500 companies (up from #205 the year before), generating over $14 Billion in annual revenue. Does this mean the 31,000 employees at Kellogg’s are all humble or do not possess any false pride? Of course not.

What this value does do is give permission to each employee to acknowledge their mistakes and highlight what they’re doing to learn and grow that will ultimately enhance the competitive positioning of the company.

Humility is not a value for the foolish. It’s embraced by the wise who want to become wiser.