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Writer's pictureDr. Fardad Fateri

Our Strengths in Humility

A humble organization is an organization that understands there is always more to learn. Dr. Fardad Fateri advises of overconfident companies that are blind to new opportunities and areas for growth.



Transcript:


to our culture so out of the ten emails

I send in a month to all of you nine of

them are related to culture different

parts of it we deliberately talk about

culture a lot because everything that we

want all the expectations we have all

the numbers we look at all those results

we share on a daily basis are emerging

properties of culture so if we all of us

share the same values at the same level

and truly exercise them at necessary

levels results will manifest the

implementation of these values does that

make sense we talk about it a lot and

Our Culture

we're very deliberate in building a

culture that we want every organization

has a culture they may not even talk

about it they may not even know it

but every organization like every

country has a culture we have our own

I'm not saying our culture is the best

I'm not even saying it's good I'm not

saying it's bad but it's ours anyone who

comes here and wants to become

successful they need to embrace our

values and again I'm not saying these

are great values but they're ours right

so it's important to understand these

values make sure we live them we behave

them we share them and we make it a part

of everything that we do so we have lots

of components to our culture lots

but I want to focus on just a few today

humility so this is one of I would say

Humility

the most misunderstood values Jim do you

agree yeah because you know what humble

means to most people is you know being a

little timid and you know people

associate more more social and

behavioral activities to humility but

when we talk about humility we talk

about making ourselves vulnerable

accepting the fact that we don't know it

all accepting the fact that we have a

lot to learn because what's the opposite

of humility arrogance and arrogance I

can tell you is the biggest curse that

there is and there is no place for it

here right humility allows you to become

Vulnerability

vulnerable and vulnerability allows you

the opportunity to learn if you're not

vulnerable you will not be open to the

possibility of what could be you have to

open yourself up to learn if you're not

learning every day something you are

falling behind I have to tell you it is

my greatest fear every day that I don't

know enough and somebody I have to learn

something from somebody every day that's

why I read obsessively because I always

think there is so much I don't know and

the more I learned the more I realize

how much I don't know right because you

know what what you know but you don't

know what you don't know and the more

you learn you're thinking oh my god

there's so much I still don't know you

but if you're not humble you will not

accept the fact that there's so much

knowledge you need

to have so you have to continue to push

yourself to learn from the people around

you I'm not just talking about content

I'm talking about behavior I'm talking

about management skills I'm talking

about

people's skills I'm talking about

execution skills these are all learned

behaviors and humility also allows you

to grow because if you don't if you're

not humble you think you've arrived you

think look at the greatness before you

what is it you cannot see you know again

look at a lot of organizations out there

the ones that continue to grow have

leadership that are very humble how many

of you have heard of a company called

Amazon they have a CEO called Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos

you've heard of the name so this guy is

arguably one of the most innovative

leaders in the world today he improves

every day everything I see from him is

grounded in daily growth he started

Amazon as an online bookseller book

selling is not even part of their core

business now so having the ability to

reinvent yourself is a part of that

growth but you will never be able to do

that if you don't accept the fact that

you need to learn every day and that

comes from humility

do you understand how we use the term

humility here does that make sense Jim

have I articulated you know Jim is our

Jim Yosef

ambassador of culture at IEC so he's the

one who knows all this stuff better than

anybody else but humility allows you to

grow arrogance forces you to think

you're better than everybody else

even when you're not it blinds you it

puts that blindfold on and you think you

always think oh well I am almost

excellent how come I'm number 11 well

but if you exercise humility you're

thinking let me go call these people who

are ahead of me

let me ask them what they do every day

so you can learn from them let me go sit

with different people when you're humble

avenues open windows open when you're

arrogant you look for excuses


 

About the Author: Fardad Fateri


Dedicated to the advancement of student success, leadership development, and organizational excellence, Dr. Fardad Fateri has devoted his 30-year career to catalyzing innovation and transformation in American higher education.

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