Humility is the latest badge of virtue for those in positions of influence, frompoliticians, toexecutives, tochart-topping artists.Theideaof ahumbleCEO is a romantic departure from the greedyself-servingcorporate hero.Rather, when faced with adversity, humble CEOssacrifice their own interestsfor the greater good.Studies echothe intuition that humble leaders are more modest, emotionally stable, and eager to learn. Unsurprisingly, they are less likely to display self-aggrandizing traits such asnarcissism.Perhaps most telling is the finding thatcompaniesandteamsled by more humble individuals,perform better. But despite humility being good for business, it's extremely difficult for CEOs to be genuinely humble.Success culls humilityA distinctive strength of humble leaders isself-awareness confidence in their abilities paired with accurate self-appraisal of their limitations. Yet, people oftenoverestimate their virtueswhile underestimating their limitations.For example, arecurringresearch finding is that peoplethinkthey arebetter-than-average. Smarter, better looking, evensuperior drivers. CEOs areno exception, in fact they may be evenmore at riskof overestimating their strengths.A key reason for this is that CEOs areas a byproduct of their career successhighly confident. Whether the CEO climbs rungs of the corporate ladder or whether acelebrity CEOisparachuted in, they will have successfully out-competed other confident and capable people for the job.The confidence that accrues with careersuccessis important for leading an organisation. Yet, success is a mixed blessing. The same string of career wins may also lead CEOs toover-appraise their strengths without attributing the role of other factors, such asluck, in their achievements.Such overconfidence can even harm organisations. Studies show that CEOs who overestimate their abilities tend tooverpay for acquisitions, takeundue risks, introduce moreunsuccessful new products, and have morevolatile firm performance.Acting 'like a CEO'If finding an authentically humble CEO candidate is rare, looking at the personality profiles of people who want to be CEOs complicates matters further.Researchshows certain jobs attract people with specific personalities. Recruiters in turn rely on judgements, oftentimes subjective, of how a candidate's personality willfit the job and the organisation.CEOs tend to scorehigherthan the general population on personality attributes such achievement-orientation, ambition, assertiveness, and risk-preference. Individuals with some, or a combination, of these traits may be particularly adept atpretendingto fit ideal criteria for aspecific role.For instance, studies show that narcissists are particularly skilled atappearingcharismatic atfirst sight. Charisma, in turn, has long been considered adesirable featureof CEOs. CEOs perceived as charismatic, accordingly, receivehigher pay.Genuine humility may thus be a scarce personality feature among candidates for CEO positions.Hurdles to leading with humilityHumble CEOs emphasise leadership as ashared activityand activelyseek advicefrom others. Although this might work for more considered and analytical decisions, it may come at the cost of speed.High-performing firms are often characterised by an ability to makedecisions quickly. In fact, some evidence suggests that more narcissistic CEOs may be quicker in making judgement calls, for instance, aboutadopting new technologies.CEOs are also expected to provideprecise forecastsof an uncertain future. However, managers often engage inherd behaviorin the face of uncertainty, and firms often end upimitatingeach other. By virtue of their self-awareness, humble CEOs can be expected to issue more realistic expectations that may deviate from collectiveoveroptimism.However, analysts tend to rateoptimistic forecastsmore favourably. As such, humble CEOs may be penalised for conveying more conservative, albeit more realistic, forecasts.Some research suggests that accomplished professionals could potentially become more self aware in thelater stagesoftheir career. If this is the case, then some CEOs may become more humble as they get closer to retirement.However, the purported benefits of age and experience may be offset by other tendencies that emerge during later career phases. For instance, CEOs closer to retirement have a natural tendency toreduce investments in innovationand those with longer tenures tend to beoverly averse to change.Equipping organisations with the right leadership attributes is crucial for success. Humility is a precious, but rare, commodity in the executive suite.Staying genuinely humble through progressive stages of high achievement is difficult for CEOs. Those who are authentically humble, in turn, face distinct challenges that may trump the benefits of their humility.Humility is at risk of becoming the latest leadership buzzword. Organisations that manage to find anauthenticallyhumble CEO, however, may just have an edge.SEE ALSO:The most important thing to look for in a job offer, according to Mark CubanJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Here's the best way to watch the solar eclipse if you don't have special glasses
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