Humility is a Competitive Advantage

Humility is one of those traits people admire in theory, but it’s easy to misunderstand it in practice as weakness, passivity, or a lack of confidence.

I see humility as honesty. Honesty with yourself about what you know and don’t know, what you’re great at and what you’re still learning (or what you’ll never excel at), where your ego is helping and where it’s just getting in the way.

It’s not about playing small. In fact, humility is one of the most powerful tools we have as leaders to play bigger. I’d argue it becomes more valuable the more experience you gain, as further gains are often nuanced or hidden to you.

When I think about the mistakes I’ve made over 25 years, I can see many were fed by a lack of enough humility. Sometimes I thought I had the answer and steamrolling ahead. Or I stayed the course too long in the hopes I wasn’t wrong. Sometimes it looked like trying to help someone when they weren’t ready: offering advice too quickly, assuming I had something more useful to offer than I really did. In both cases, I wasn’t making enough room for other perspectives, or for the possibility that I could be wrong.

Counterintuitively, humility, to me, is a form of self-trust. It takes this different kind of strength to admit when you don’t know something. It takes confidence to say “I was wrong.” It takes resilience to sit with the pain of a mistake long enough to learn from it. And it takes real self-awareness to spot ego creeping in, trying to protect itself by rejecting feedback or doubling down on a bad idea.

Humility also shows up in how we try to help others. I’ve learned the hard way that not everyone wants advice, even when I think it’s helpful. Sometimes the most supportive thing we can do is stay quiet, be a good listener, and trust that others will find their own way without needing us to fix things for them. That’s not indifference. That’s humble respect. It’s also hard.

And that’s not just true one-on-one—it plays out across the team too, especially in conflict. When emotions run high and people feel wronged, humility can be a bridge. It softens the rigidity of “I’m right” and invites reflection. I’ve encouraged people to consider not just what happened, but what they might learn from it. That’s difficult in the moment, but transformative in the long run. Humility reduces friction. It shortens recovery. And it strengthens relationships.

Early in my career, I often felt pressure to have all the answers… I still fight this battle today. And sure, leaders are accountable, but that doesn’t mean we have to figure everything out on our own (see my related thoughts on “Build a team that doesn’t need me“). Some of the best moments in my leadership have come when I admitted I didn’t know, asked for help, or invited the team (or even just waited silently) to solve a hard problem together. That’s when people step up.

I’ve also seen humility become a cultural amplifier. It’s contagious. I can think of many Dolphins who have grown because they embraced feedback and stayed open to learning. With humility 😅, I’d like to think I’ve helped model that by doing the same. You really can’t grow without humility. It’s the soil everything else grows in.

At the organizational level, humility is just as crucial. It’s the difference between pretending you’re good at doing everything for everyone… and actually doing the hard work to find your unique value in a dynamic world. A humble company knows where it excels and where it doesn’t. It listens to its clients. It learns from its mistakes. It adjusts its strategy when the world changes.

Humility has played a central role in how we shape our strategy at Smart Dolphins. I’m an introvert, and that trait has subtly influenced our company’s culture. We’re an inward-focused company by default, and that has strengths and limitations. It’s required a humble look at who we are and what comes naturally to us. For example, while we value client relationships deeply, we’ve recognized we’re not going to “out-schmooze” our competitors. Instead, we’ve leaned into building intentional systems and structures that strengthen relationships in ways that feel authentic to us. That clarity came from being honest about what we’re great at and what we’re not.

One underrated benefit to humility: it keeps you in motion. When you’re grounded in it, you’re not focused on proving yourself; you’re more simply looking to improve. You’re always learning, adapting, and evolving. This isn’t rooted in a feeling of being inadequate, but more an intention of becoming even better. In a fast-changing world, ego can make us brittle, while humility is the antidote that helps us stay flexible.

For me, humility is a competitive advantage. Not being the smartest person in the room. Not having all the answers. But being the kind of leader, and building the kind of company, that gets better every single year through the honesty that comes from the gift of humility.

And, ironically, I know writing all this doesn’t exactly sound humble. But maybe that’s the paradox of humility. It’s not about downplaying yourself. It’s about being honest enough to keep learning and that never stops, even after 25 years.

What’s this 25/25 stuff about?: 25 YEARS, 25 INSIGHTS – Reflections on Growth, Leadership and Resilience | Smart Dolphins IT Solutions Inc.