How Do We Fail and Fall?

Someone once told me that if we lose our humility we would find ourselves at risk of any number of potential breakdowns in our lives. At the time, I didn’t quite understand what this meant, but on some fundamental level, it stuck.

Over years of practice as a developmental facilitator, consultant and coach for individuals and organizations, the idea seems to have always been in the background though appearing before me in practice. Each time I got full of myself, it preceded some kind of screw up on my part. Each time recognition or acknowledgement inflated my ego, there was invariably a painful deflation ahead. And I saw it as several leaders torched their careers through poor decisions they would not have made earlier. So too does it occur with people in recovery who start thinking too well of their capacity for sobriety, and sometimes lose that sobriety.

Then, a few years ago Jim Collins, the leadership guru, published a specific book that helped me see more clearly. His seminal work, Good to Great, has proven to have wide traction and benefit in leadership and organization development. One of his foundational principles is that with certain practices greatness becomes possible, i.e. that when one follows those principles, it is possible to outperform one’s peers -whether as individuals, groups or organizations.

One day, someone asked him another question: How do great leaders or organizations lose their way?

Collins went back to his research, eventually publishing How the Mighty Fall. In short, his work revealed that a loss of humility and the emergence of hubris were the central issues. The mistake appears when as a result of one’s successes one comes to believe the rules and principles no longer apply to them. What follows are decisions and actions that undermine. The great fall is not far behind.

This reminds me of an idea in recovery: principles before personalities, that certain principles are far more important than the person. It also parallels the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson, who urged public leaders toward “disinterest,” meaning they should not have personal benefit invested lest they become poor leaders.

For many years I have advised others to make sure somewhere, somehow they find ways to stay off any pedestal, whether of their own making, or some outer source. Based on my personal experience, and the experiences of any number of others, deflation is never comfortable, but it is essential.

Seeing True™

Getting over your self is good for you … and good for us too!

Seeing True™ in Action

What to do to maintain humility, and not fall prey to hubris?

· Make sure you have someone who will tell you the truth about you. Someone to whom you will listen. So you can see yourself more clearly.

· Adopt a regular practice of looking for the sources of your success beyond your self. Rest assured you will find them if you look, and you will realize you are not a product of your self, but of the contributions of countless others.

· Always search out others and other factors that have contributed, and always give credit where credit is due. That practice alone keeps us honest, and grateful as well.

Will these practices be foolproof? Of course not. But they will create the possibility that when the small falls come, we can learn and be humbled, and thereby avoid the devastating falls.

Updated April, 2022