If You’re Happy and You Know It. . . You Likely Have Good Friends

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The key to happiness (along with the location of the Fountain of Youth) has eluded humans since the beginning of time.

Some keys to happiness have now been uncovered as a result of one of the world’s largest longitudinal studies of people’s health and happiness. Launched by Harvard University in 1938, the study followed then-college sophomores into old age. With fewer than 20 of the original subjects still alive, the results were released in 2015.

The study subjects were in several groups. The first consisted of sophomore students at Harvard, who graduated during WWII. The second group consisted of boys from some of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston. Additional groups were added over the years, including some of the men’s spouses and children.

The study had three primary takeaways about the keys to happiness, as outlined below:

  1. The most consistent factor in the lives of happy and healthy people is forming and maintaining close relationships with others. People who have meaningful connections to family, friends and their community tend to be healthier, so they are likely to live longer than those who do not.
  2. The quality of relationships is much more important than the quantity. Having a few good, supportive, close friends is much better than having a plethora of acquaintances or shallow relationships. And relationships that are full of conflict are not healthy. Robert Waldinger, a psychiatrist and professor at Harvard Medical School told The Harvard Gazette, “Good, warm and close relationships…have the ability to buffer us from some of the slings and arrows of getting old.”
  3. Good relationships are good for your brain. In addition to being good for physical and emotional health, the study also shows that people with meaningful relationships tend to have sharper and longer memories.

To have positive and close relationships, the article suggests trading some screen time for “people time,” and working on existing relationships by trying a new activity. Something as simple as taking walks together can revitalize a relationship. Another suggestion is to contact a friend or a relative with whom you have lost touch: reconnecting with people from the past is often very emotionally rewarding.

Virginia Tech gerontologist Dr. Rosemary Blieszner provides advice about making new friends: “Be sure to take the time to get to know one other. Share some personal information gradually, as you get to know each other. Find activities you both enjoy, and be sure to let the other person know you’re interested in getting together again.”

Advancements in medicine and science are enabling people to live longer and longer. The key to making the most of our longer lives is learning how to be as emotionally, mentally, and physically healthy as possible during these bonus years.

Don’t Waste Time in Bad Meetings!

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Everyone has them, but boy can they be painful.  No, I’m not talking about your annual physical (a worthwhile use of time!).  I’m talking about meetings.

According to Harvard Business Review, the average executive spends 23 hours per week in meetings. 23 HOURS A WEEK! That is just nuts. It’s not that meetings are a complete waste of time; ideas are conceived and problems are solved in meetings. But most meetings are not run efficiently. They waste a substantial amount of time. And we all know time is finite, and time is money.

Short, productive meetings aren’t a pipe dream. Here are a few basic steps to making the most of every minute:

  1. Each meeting should have a clear objective. The meeting leader must state the objective at the beginning of the meeting.
  2. The only people who should be at a meeting are the ones who are needed there.  You don’t need anyone to “observe” as a “stakeholder.”  Each person present should be integral to reaching the goal of the meeting.
  3. Require an agenda – even if it’s rough – in advance of the meeting.  Familiarize yourself with material that is pertinent to the meeting and ask others to do the same.
  4. Begin the meeting by discussing the most important issue.  If nothing else is accomplished, this will be it. List each item in order, and include the time allotted for each.  Post the agenda somewhere for all to see during the meeting.
  5. Start on time and wait for no one.  Latecomers will get the picture, and everyone else will be appreciative. People will show up (on time) to your meetings in the future, because they know exactly what to expect.
  6. Ban technology. No, you aren’t the parent, but it’s your meeting. Multi-tasking doesn’t work. Most people won’t like it, but you can bet they won’t be distracted.
  7. Stay focused and on track.  Chasing squirrels, as a friend of mine likes to say, is a big time-waster. Do not allow people to veer off on other topics, no matter how important they are, or how “quickly” they can be covered.
  8. Be sure that all attendees understand the plan and know exactly what action they need to take post-meeting.
  9. End on time.  This is crucial.  People will show up to future meetings because they know precisely when it begins and ends. The ideal meeting length is 30 minutes, but no meeting should surpass 60 minutes. After that, you lose people.  If they don’t find a physical way out then they are planning what to have for dinner. A meeting lasting longer than 60 minutes must have breaks, typically 10 to 15 minutes.
  10. Ensure that a follow-up email is sent within 24 hours.  Include all important decisions that were made.  Reiterate the tasks assigned to each person.  Even when all objectives are met in record time, the whole thing is pointless if there’s no follow-through.

The next three suggestions are unconventional ideas (inspired during an unproductive meeting, perhaps?) from Scoro. Different is good; it wakes people up and adds energy to the room.

  • Meet outside the office—a picnic bench, park, coffee shop, wherever. A change of scenery wakes people up and seems to improve moods.
  • Have a stand up meeting. Seriously. Watch the extraneous talking come to an abrupt halt, and the ideas flow.
  • Be creative. Food manufacturer Plum Organics has a creative/brainstorming meeting during which they color in coloring books. According to the company’s innovation director, Jen Brush, “It’s proven that coloring during a meeting helps promote active listening, and is more beneficial than multitasking on something like email.”

It’s time to wrap up this post — any more will be a waste of time.

Good luck with your next meeting!

Buffett’s Advice for Financial Success

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The “Oracle of Omaha” has created an impressive following of people and his investing results have proven the test of time.  Below are some simple bits of wisdom that I believe are timeless.

  1. Never lose money.  Buffet’s rule # 1 is to not lose money.  And his rule #2 is to remember rule #1.  Keep in mind if you lose 50% of your investment, then it takes 100% return to get back to even.
  2. Get high value for low price.  What he means is value is what you pay for.  Make sure that you are paying the right price for the value in the product, business or investment that you are buying.
  3. Build healthy money habits.  Habits are what drive our behavior.  It’s been said that finance is 80% behavior and 20% math.  If we don’t change poor behaviors with our wallet then we can’t expect to find success with money or building a business.
  4. Avoid debt and, more specifically, avoid credit card debt.  Credit card interest rates can be as high as 18% and more.  If you have to roll over your credit card balance regularly, then you can’t afford spending on it.  In effect, you are trading your future for your present satisfaction.
  5. Keep cash on hand.  Come up with what your minimum cash balance needs to be.  Is it 3 months or 6 months of expenses?  “Cash is to a business as oxygen is to an individual: Never think about it when it is present, the only thing in mind when it is absent,” said Buffet.
  6. Invest in yourself.  Your biggest income producing asset is yourself.  Improve your skills to make yourself more valuable to the market.  Unlike other assets and investments, “Nobody can tax it away and they can’t steal it away,” said Buffet.
  7. Learn about how to manage money as a part of the investment in yourself.  Not everyone enjoys this subject, however, there are simple methods to follow that help you win with money.  Spend less than you make. . . save 15% into a low cost index mutual fund. . . it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you decide to spend.
  8. Trust a low-cost index fund. Expenses matter when it comes to returns on your investments.  Consistently adding to your investments each month or quarter exercises an important “money muscle.”
  9. Give back on a regular basis.  Giving of our “time, talents, and treasure” to our community and nonprofits is a natural law of human nature where we want to help others in need.  Giving produces psychic benefits for the giver and it helps society move forward.
  10. Invest for the long term.  Investing not only with dollars but in ourselves is a long term game.  Building true financial security takes time.  As Buffet said, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

Together these pieces of advice can help take us on the journey to financial security.  The advice is simple and timeless.

Let us know how we can help you achieve financial success in your business!

Prioritization: The Foremost Rockefeller Habit for Success

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There is a belief that the best way to improve your work productivity is to emulate the habits of someone highly successful. John D. Rockefeller, who founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870 and ran it until 1897, is one of the true titans of American business. And so, the book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish made its way onto my reading list.

As the book documents, Rockefeller’s approach to running a growing business was really quite simple.  He identified three underlying habits that he considered essential to good business management:

  1. Setting priorities for the organization.
  2. Collecting and analyzing sufficient management data.
  3. Establishing an effective organizational rhythm.

Of the three key habits, setting priorities is first, and arguably the most important.

Setting Company Priorities

Rockefeller developed a list of the Top 5 priorities of his business for the upcoming year and the next quarter.  He also ranked those top priorities in order and set a clear Top 1 priority from among his Top 5. He communicated these priorities throughout his company and encouraged employees to set personal priorities that aligned with and supported the company’s priorities.

It seems to be common sense to solve the problem at hand before moving to another challenge, but not every team or employee has the discipline to follow through to completion of a difficult task. Rockefeller’s managers provided the discipline needed to make sure the top priority was completed before the second priority was undertaken.

As productivity tools go, Rockefeller’s Top 5 priorities list is one of the most widely used in American business history.  As an example of the effectiveness of the tool and how soon it came to be appreciated by others, Harnish relates the story of a management consultant who was summoned to the office of Charles Schwab in the early 1900s. At the time, Schwab was the CEO of Bethlehem Steel, and he was looking for ideas to improve the business.

The consultant told Schwab how he could improve Bethlehem Steel’s bottom line by using a simple productivity tool. It was Rockefeller’s Top 5 priorities list.

The consultant told Schwab to start each day by writing down the top 5 things he wanted to accomplish for the company’s benefit. They had to be prioritized from 1 to 5, with 1 being the objective likely to have the greatest impact on the business.

Schwab was instructed to work only on priority 1 until it was completed. If it was not accomplished by day’s end, it remained the top priority the next day. Under no circumstance could he move to priority 2 without completing priority 1.

The consultant told Schwab to implement this principle and afterwards pay him whatever he felt the advice was worth. If it didn’t work, Schwab owed him nothing. A period of time elapsed and one day the consultant received a check in the mail from Mr. Schwab. The check was written for $25,000, which was a great deal of money in those days – something over $600,000 in today’s terms. That’s how beneficial the borrowed productivity tool was to Bethlehem Steel, which became a world leader in its industry.

Rockefeller knew, and Schwab learned, this: Management of any business, large or small, needs to clearly establish and communicate to employees important priorities that will help the company make progress towards its vision.

How well have you identified and articulated to employees your company’s priorities? If you’re not sure, give Trillium Financial a call at (404) 353-2148 and we’ll help find the answer.

Can Humility Help Us in Business?

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by Tom Mallory, Acadia Associates, Inc.

Mention the name Lee Iacocca and most people think “great leader.” After all, he brought Chrysler back from disaster, raised its stock price far above his competitors, wrote a successful business book, had adoring fans worldwide, and even was urged to run for president. But according to Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, Iacocca’s business success was in the first half of his tenure before he “diverted attention to making himself one of the most celebrated CEOs in American business history.” As Collins elaborates, he appeared regularly on talk shows, starred in over 80 commercials, and widely promoted his autobiography.

The second half of his tenure was different. “Chrysler’s stock fell 31 percent behind the general market. He postponed his retirement so many times that insiders joked that Iacocca meant ‘I Am Chairman of Chrysler Corporation Always’.” Then after his retirement, he launched a hostile takeover bid for Chrysler with Kirk Kerkorian which failed.

Lee Iacocca is just one example of business leaders who let pride foil their “enduring greatness.” Others, as Collins points out, were Al Dunlop at Scott Paper, Stanley Gault at Rubbermaid, and CEOs from many name brand companies such as R.J. Reynolds, Teledyne, Eckerd, and Bank of America.

In fact, in over two thirds of the comparison cases Collins’ team studied, “the presence of a gargantuan personal ego contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.” Thus, the common characteristic that lacked in these potentially great business leaders was humility.

In contrast, Darwin Smith of Kimberly-Clark, Colman Mockler of Gillette, and George Cain of Abbott Laboratories rose to being great leaders because of  a “paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.” Ever heard of these great men? That’s the point. They shunned attention of themselves, were modest, and gave credit to others. They had tremendous inner strength to repress their ego and focus on the larger goal of building a great company.


Humility Analyzed

Maybe there’s a place for being humble but it couldn’t be in the competitive, driving, and sometimes cutthroat world of the workplace. Strength and determination win on this battleground. Besides, isn’t being humble perceived as being weak? Do I want my competitors and, worse, my potential clients believing I’m weak?

In addition, don’t we all secretly strive to be flattered, recognized by our peers (and hopefully our bosses), and ultimately honored in large public ceremonies?  Sure we do.  So where’s the business benefit from being humble?

 

Humility and Success Through the Years

Success through humility is not a new concept.

Perhaps one of the earliest humble businessmen was Benjamin Franklin, who described himself as a “humble inquirer.” According to Walter Isaacson in Benjamin Franklin, An American Life, Franklin began developing this style around age 20 after reading about Socrates’ method of building an argument through “gentle queries.” Uniquely disarming to his opponents, this style won many friends starting with the Governor of Pennsylvania after Franklin ran away from Boston to Philadelphia at age 17. He used his humble style along with wit, an astounding literary grasp, patience, and determination throughout his multiple careers. Although Franklin referred to himself as simply a “printer,” Isaacson believes that he was “America’s best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, printer, and business strategist” during his 84-year life.

George Washington is described by many authors as always moderate, always modest.  As Willard Randall in George Washington: A Life describes, just prior to resigning as commander-in-chief after the British surrendered, “his mortal enemy, King George III, has said that if George Washington could give up power, he would indeed be the greatest man of the eighteenth century.”  Washington avoided the spotlight literally by being stealthy and elusive in battle (hence the English called him “The Fox”) but also by giving others the credit. His military officers loved him for this and cried along with him at Fraunces Tavern in New York on November 25, 1783 when he bid his officers a final farewell. He did not seek higher status or title even though the country begged for this, and he tried numerous times to return to his life as simply a “planter.” On his last day as President at the inauguration of John Adams, he “wore a plain black suit as he walked alone to Congress Hall while Adams in a lavish new suit rode in a new resplendent carriage of state.”

Abraham Lincoln never let his ego get in the way of his primary ambition for the larger cause of keeping the nation together. As James McPherson writes in Battle Cry of Freedom, he was humble: shy, awkward in manner, and modest. He acknowledged his failures in numerous conspicuous ways, received suffocating amounts of criticism without seeking revenge, and felt more at home with common folks. “Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them,” he once wrote. A line in his Gettsyburg Address sums up his humility: “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”

Colin Powell and Jimmy Blanchard are example of current leaders who excel because of their humility. Powell “grew up poor but rich in spirit and values,” as he says in his book My American Journey.  Among his 13 “Rules of Life” are being kind, sharing credit, and letting go of your ego. Like Franklin’s humble self description as “printer,” Powell sums up his unprecedented military career as simply being “a soldier.” Jimmy Blanchard, CEO of Georgia-based Synovus, always displays humility in his business and community life. His company, which was started by “a single act of kindness in helping a female mill worker,” continues to “treat folks right by doing the right thing.” Fortune Magazine in 1999 rated it the #1 place to work in America.

Becoming Humble

Jim Collins writes, “Humility + Will = the Enduring Level 5 Executive.”  But how much humility is needed to go from a “Level 4 Efficient Leader” to Level 5?  Certainly Iacocca had the “will” as exhibited by his “ferocious resolve.” But did he need a little or a lot of humility to achieve greatness?  Is it worth investing our time towards better understanding and perhaps becoming at least a little more humble?  Alfred Ells, a senior therapist with New Life Clinic and founder of House of Hope Counseling, suggests 10 ways towards becoming humble:

  1. Choose to serve others. Doing so reduces our focus on ourselves and builds up others. But when serving others costs us nothing, we should question whether or not we are really serving.
  2. Receive correction and feedback graciously. Look for the kernel of truth in what people offer you, even if it comes from a dubious source. Ask yourself, “What is being shown to me that I can’t see.”
  3. Take wrong patiently. When something is unjust, we instinctively want to strike back and rectify it. However, patiently responding to unjust accusations and actions of others builds and displays our strength and character.
  4. Acknowledge your mistakes and weaknesses to others. It’s ironic that it is so difficult to admit our mistakes and weaknesses even to ourselves since through these failures we learn. But the true test of humility is acknowledging our faults to others. Wisdom, however, dictates that we do so with those we trust.
  5. Actively submit to authority. Our culture does not value submission; rather it promotes confrontation and individualism. Submitting to those in authority, particularly if we disagree with them, reveals your strength.
  6. Accept a lowly place. If you find yourself wanting to sit at the head of the table, desiring to be recognized for your accomplishments, or becoming offended when others are honored, then pride is present. Support others being recognized rather than you. Look for and accept the lowly place; it is the place of humility.
  7. Purposely associate with people of lower state that you. Society is status conscious and people naturally want to socialize upward. Resist the temptation of being partial to those with status or wealth.
  8. Be quick to forgive. Forgiveness is possibly one of the greatest acts of humility. To forgive is to acknowledge a wrong that has been done to us and to release our right of repayment for the wrong. Forgiveness is denial of self.  Forgiveness is not insisting on our way and our justice.
  9. Cultivate a grateful heart. The more we develop an attitude of gratitude for the gifts we constantly receive in life, the more we realize our successes have been gifts earned from giving.
  10. Purpose to speak well of others. Saying negative things about others puts them “one down” and us “one up.” Speaking well of others builds them up instead of us. “I will speak ill of no man, and speak all the good I know of everybody,” said Ben Franklin.

It’s ironic that one of the ways to be humble is by acknowledging our weaknesses and mistakes to others. However, to do this and other humble acts takes tremendous inner strength and confidence – the kind of strength and confidence that leads to enduring leadership.

So humility is not what business would perceive it to be: weakness. Humility allows weakness, which we all have, to be transformed into strength. Being humble also reveals this strength to others, and this strength continues to build within us if we practice humility. Ultimately, humility lifts others and in doing so lifts you. But watch out. It’s even more difficult to be humble from a higher position.

“The closest we ever come to perfection is
when we write our resumes.”
– Executive search consultant

“The superior man is modest in his speech,
but exceeds in his actions.”
– Confucius

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom.
It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest
might weaken and the wisest might err.”
– Mohandas Gandhi

“I am not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion’s roar.”
– Winston Churchill

“You can accomplish anything in life, provided
that you do not mind who gets the credit.”
– Harry Truman

Humility’s Unexpected Benefits

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by Tom Mallory

“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.”
– Mark Twain

“If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect.”
– Ted Turner

Can humility help us in business?

Maybe there’s a place for being humble but it couldn’t be in the competitive, driving, and sometimes cut throat world of the workplace. Strength and determination win on this battleground. Besides, isn’t being humble perceived as being weak? Do I want my competitors and, worse, my potential clients believing I’m weak?

In addition, don’t we all secretly strive to be flattered, recognized by our peers (and hopefully our bosses), and ultimately honored in large public ceremonies? Sure we do. So where’s the business benefit from being humble?

Humility Analyzed

Mention the name Lee Iacocca and most people think “great leader.” After all, he brought Chrysler back from disaster, raised its stock price far above his competitors, wrote a successful business book, had adoring fans worldwide, and even was urged to run for president.

But according to Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, Iacocca’s business success was in the first half of his tenure before “he diverted attention to making himself one of the most celebrated CEOs in American business history.” As Collins elaborates, he appeared regularly on talk shows, starred in over 80 commercials, and widely promoted his autobiography. At one point, Iacocca stated, “Running Chrysler has been a bigger job than running the country. . . I could handle the national economy in six months.”

The second half of his tenure was different. “Chrysler’s stock fell 31 percent behind the general market. He postponed his retirement so many times that insiders joked that Iacocca meant “I Am Chairman of Chrysler Corporation Always.” Then after his retirement, he launched a hostile takeover bid for Chrysler with Kirk Kerkorian which failed.

Lee Iacocca is just one example of business leaders who let pride foil their “enduring greatness.” Others, as Collins points out, were Al Dunlop at Scott Paper, Stanley Gault at Rubbermaid, and CEOs from many name brand companies such as R.J. Reynolds, Teledyne, Eckerd, and Bank of America. In fact, in over two thirds of the comparison cases Collins’ team studied, “the presence of a gargantuan personal ego contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.” Thus, the common characteristic that lacked in these potentially great business leaders was humility.

In contrast, Darwin Smith of Kimberly-Clark, Colman Mockler of Gillette, and George Cain of Abbott Laboratories rose to become great leaders because of a “paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.” Ever heard of these great men? That’s the point. They shunned attention of themselves, were modest, and gave credit to others. They had tremendous inner strength to repress their ego and focus on the larger goal of building a great company.

Humility and Success through the years

Success through humility is not a new concept.

Perhaps one of the earliest humble businessmen was Benjamin Franklin, who described himself as a “humble inquirer.” According to Walter Isaacson in Benjamin Franklin, An American Life, Franklin began developing this style around age 20 after reading about Socrates’ method of building an argument through “gentle queries.” Uniquely disarming to his opponents, this style won many friends, starting with the Governor of Pennsylvania after Franklin ran away from Boston to Philadelphia at age 17. He used his humble style along with wit, an astounding literary grasp, patience, and determination throughout his multiple careers. Although Franklin referred to himself as simply a “printer,” Isaacson believes that he was “America’s best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, printer, and business strategist” during his 84-year life.

George Washington is described by many authors as always moderate, always modest.  As Willard Randall in George Washington: A Life describes, just prior to resigning as commander in chief after the British surrendered, “his mortal enemy, King George III, has said that if George Washington could give up power, he would indeed be the greatest man of the eighteenth century.” Washington avoided the spotlight literally by being stealthy and elusive in battle (hence the English called him The Fox) but also by giving others the credit. His military officers loved him for this and cried along with him at Fraunces Tavern in New York on November 25, 1783 when he bid his officers a final farewell. He did not seek higher status or title even though the country begged for this, and he tried numerous times to return to his life as simply a “planter.” On his last day as President at the inauguration of John Adams, he “wore a plain black suit as he walked alone to Congress Hall while Adams in a lavish new suit rode in a new resplendent carriage of state.”

Abraham Lincoln never let his ego get in the way of his primary ambition for keeping the nation together. As James McPherson writes in Battle Cry of Freedom, he was humble:  shy, awkward in manner, and modest. He acknowledged his failures in numerous conspicuous ways, received suffocating amounts of criticism without seeking revenge, and felt more at home with common folks. “Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them,” he once wrote.  A line in his Gettsyburg Address sums up his humility: “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”

Colin Powell and Jimmy Blanchard are example of current leaders who excel because of their humility. Powell “grew up poor but rich in spirit and values,” as he says in his book My American Journey. Among his 13 “Rules of Life” are being kind, sharing credit, and letting go of your ego. Like Franklin’s humble self description as “printer,” Powell sums up his unprecedented military career as simply being “a soldier.” Jimmy Blanchard, CEO of Georgia-based Synovus, always displays humility in his business and community life. His company, which was started by “a single act of kindness in helping a female mill worker,” continues to “treat folks right by doing the right thing.” Fortune Magazine in 1999 rated it the #1 place to work in America.

Becoming Humble

Jim Collins writes, “Humility + Will = the Enduring Level 5 Executive.” But how much humility is needed to go from a Level 4 Efficient Leader to Level 5?  Certainly Iacocca had the “will” as exhibited by his “ferocious resolve.”  But did he need a little or a lot of humility to achieve greatness?  Is it worth investing our time towards better understanding and perhaps becoming at least a little more humble?  Alfred Ells, a senior therapist with New Life Clinic and founder of House of Hope Counseling, suggests 10 ways to work toward becoming humble:

  1. Choose to serve others. Doing so reduces our focus on ourselves and builds up others. But when serving others costs us nothing, we should question whether or not we are really serving.
  2. Receive correction and feedback graciously. Look for the kernel of truth in what people offer you, even if it comes from a dubious source. Ask yourself, “What is being shown to me that I can’t see.”
  3. Take wrong patiently. When something is unjust, we instinctively want to strike back and rectify it. However, patiently responding to unjust accusations and actions of others builds and displays our strength and character.
  4. Acknowledge your mistakes and weaknesses to others. It’s ironic that it is so difficult to admit our mistakes and weaknesses even to ourselves since through these failures we learn. But the true test of humility is acknowledging our faults to others. Wisdom, however, dictates that we do so with those we trust.
  5. Actively submit to authority. Our culture does not value submission; rather it promotes confrontation and individualism. Submitting to those in authority, particularly if we disagree with them, reveals your strength.
  6. Accept a lowly place. If you find yourself wanting to sit at the head of the table, desiring to be recognized for your accomplishments, or becoming offended when others are honored, then pride is present. Support others being recognized rather than you. Look for and accept the lowly place; it is the place of humility.
  7. Purposely associate with people of lower state that you. Society is status conscious and people naturally want to socialize upward. Resist the temptation of being partial to those with status or wealth.
  8. Be quick to forgive. Forgiveness is possibly one of the greatest acts of humility. To forgive is to acknowledge a wrong that has been done to us and to release our right of repayment for the wrong. Forgiveness is denial of self. Forgiveness is not insisting on our way and our justice.
  9. Cultivate a grateful heart. The more we develop an attitude of gratitude for the gifts we constantly receive in life, the more we realize our successes have been gifts earned from giving.
  10. Purpose to speak well of others. Saying negative things about others puts them “one down” and us “one up.” Speaking well of others builds them up instead of us. “I will speak ill of no man, and speak all the good I know of everybody,” said Ben Franklin.

It’s ironic that one of the ways to be humble is by acknowledging our weaknesses and mistakes to others. However, to do this and other humble acts takes tremendous inner strength and confidence – the kind of strength and confidence that leads to enduring leadership.

So humility is not what business would perceive it to be: weakness. Humility allows weakness, which we all have, to be transformed into strength. Being humble also reveals this strength to others, and this strength continues to build within us if we practice humility. Ultimately, humility lifts others and in doing so lifts you. But watch out. It’s even more difficult to be humble from a higher position.

Tom Mallory is a partner at Acadia Associates, Inc., an Atlanta-based executive firm. He can be reached at TMallory@AcadiaAssociates.com or at 404-467-8900.