UPFRONT July 4, 2005 Issue

Strength in meekness

MAIKE BYRD. CHILDREN'S EDITOR

Quick, right off the top of your head, pick three qualities you need to be really successful in life. ... Well, what did you pick?

Did your choices include humility, meekness, or modesty? These qualities may not be the ones that first come to mind as desirable in today's hard-driving, competitive world, where getting advantages over others and winning in the race to the top seem all-important. Yet some of the greatest people humanity has known have also been the humblest and meekest, and the least self-righteous.

As a matter of fact, recent research has shown that humility in business leaders is vital for an organization's long-term success. Jim Collins, in his bestseller, Good to Great, devotes a whole chapter to this topic and lists humility as one of two essential attributes of a top-level CEO.

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