Humble CEOs make the best leaders

Most studies of business leaders focus on narcissism and dominance as traits necessary for powerful leadership. Yet a new study by Angelo Kinicki, management professor at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, takes a different approach. Kinicki, along with graduate students Amy Ou and Anne Tsui, and other colleagues in the United States and China, decided to look at leadership traits through the lens of Confucianism. “Those traits include self-awareness, openness to feedback, and a focus on the greater good and others’ welfare, as opposed to dwelling on oneself,” writes Susan Adams for Forbes. The researchers interviewed CEOs of 63 Chinese companies and gave surveys to 1,000 top- and mid-level managers who worked with the CEOs. The study found that the more humble the CEO, the more managers reported positive emotions. “Top-level managers said they felt their jobs were more meaningful, they wanted to participate more in decision-making, they felt more confident about doing their work and they had a greater sense of autonomy,” Adams writes. “They also were more motivated to collaborate, to make decisions jointly and to share information. Likewise middle managers felt more engaged and committed to their jobs when the top boss was more humble.” What does this mean for companies in the U.S.? “I think humble leaders in the U.S. will have the same cascading influence on others as they do in China,” says Kinicki. “People like to be empowered and they like to be treated fairly. That’s as true in the U.S. as it is in other parts of the world.” Read more at Forbes.com.]]>