Module Five: Humility
I had the honor of speaking at a large conference filled with Owners, Entrepreneurs, and Executives from MSP companies across the U.S. These men and women are brilliant—deeply committed to learning, growing, and holding one another accountable in both business and life. But what impressed me most was their shared understanding of the importance of relationships.
Throughout the event, I had multiple conversations about how to strengthen both professional and personal relationships. These leaders recognized that building strong teams at home is just as essential as building strong teams at work. They were willing to invest their time, energy, and effort into demonstrating the one thing it takes to grow fulfilling relationships—humility.
You read that correctly. The secret ingredient to powerful and meaningful relationships is the choice to lead with humility. There are three key components of a humble leader. The first is to listen. The second is to learn. The third is to lead with questions rather than immediately offering answers or directives.
Try this in your own relationships. Approach conversations with curiosity—listen, learn, and ask questions. You’ll be amazed at how this can transform a difficult relationship into a thriving one. The leaders at this conference reminded me that anything of value is worth working hard to obtain.
Choose to work on becoming a humble leader to those around you, and you will make a difference.
Larry Little
Eagle Center for Leadership
What allows a leader to serve others well? Humility. You can't focus on what your team needs if you're preoccupied with protecting your image or proving you're right. Humble leaders recognize that their role isn't having all the answers. They support others in finding solutions instead of positioning themselves as the smartest person in the room.
Servant Leadership starts with this mindset. Leaders who practice humility ask better questions because they're genuinely curious about other perspectives. They admit mistakes because solving problems matters more than saving face. They give credit to their team because leadership success gets measured by what others accomplish, not personal recognition. On the other hand, without humility, leaders tend to dismiss input, resist feedback, and prioritize their own standing over what the team actually needs.
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”
Being humble doesn't require giving up your confidence, and you can still make decisions and hold people accountable when needed. Confident leaders take calculated risks and provide clear direction when their teams need it, while humble leaders stay open to learning from those around them and acknowledge when someone else has a better idea. The combination of both qualities creates environments where people feel safe contributing ideas, taking risks, and speaking up when something isn't working. Servant leaders develop both because their success depends less on being right and more on helping others succeed.
This module focuses on three areas that build humility in servant leadership. You'll examine how ego creates barriers to growth and learn strategies for managing it, develop self-awareness to understand how your behavior impacts others and identify gaps between your intentions and your impact, and apply the GRIT framework—Get Over Yourself, Run to the Hard Things, Inspire Others, and Time—to turn humility from a concept into consistent practice. Together, these areas develop the humility that servant leadership requires. Let’s begin!
