RADICAL HUMILITY

Koenig argues that humility is a key ingredient in modern leadership and explains its organizational applications.

The author writes that he was always fascinated by humility and liked to be around people who displayed confident self-possession. After the financial crisis of 2007-08, he began to analyze the concept with greater rigor, realizing that the world of commerce had fundamentally changed. It had become too “uniquely complex, fast moving, chaotic, and deeply interconnected” for a traditionally autocratic and hierarchical brand of leadership. Instead of that model, which he calls “THEN leadership,” the author advocates a more nimble “NOW leadership” approach that incorporates “Radical Humility.” This strategy demands self-knowledge on the part of the leader, a commitment to establishing trusting, two-way working relationships, and a relentless “growth mindset” involving constant learning and self-improvement. In brief, the book’s familiar central premise is that the increasing complexity of the world makes intellectual collaboration necessary: “In our tumultuous world, it is impossible for one individual to accumulate enough knowledge to figure it all out.” He further asserts that such collaboration is only possible in an environment in which people feel empowered to speak their minds freely. Koenig makes a convincing case that humility is consistent with both strength and ambition, and he sensibly acknowledges that such humbleness is “no replacement for competence and skill.” However, the contention that self-awareness can be most effectively generated by self-assessment and feedback surveys appears to assume that an absence of self-knowledge is a correctable oversight, when it could just as plausibly be an ingrained moral flaw. Overall, Koenig’s book doesn’t add anything novel to the crowded field of leadership studies, and its counsel, while prudent, features many ideas that readers have likely seen before.

An earnest leadership book that offers few new insights.