Revisiting Humility as a Leadership Attribute in the Army

Col. Jordon E. Swain, PhD, U.S. Army, Maj. Catherine Grizzle, U.S. Army, Maj. Benjamin, Ordiway, U.S. Army, Jacob A. Brown, PhD

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In Military Review’s September-October 2000 article “Humility as a Leadership Attribute,” Lt. Col. Joseph Doty and Dan Gerdes state that “humility ... is often disregarded when describing traits of good leaders because it seems to suggest a lack of toughness and resolve essential in an effective leader. However, the humble leader lacks arrogance, not aggressiveness.” (Photos courtesy of Military Review)

It has been twenty-five years since Lt. Col. Joseph Doty and Dr. Dan Gerdes penned their piece in Military Review calling for the Nation’s oldest branch of service to embrace the leader attribute of humility.1 In that nearly quarter century, much has changed in what is known about humility and the promise it holds for leaders in the Army.

Since 2000, scholars have produced over twenty-three thousand works exploring humility, clarifying the concept, and generating new, important insights into both the benefits and challenges of leader humility. The past quarter century has also seen the Army reintroduce humility to its leadership doctrine, although this does not mean that every leader in uniform understands or embraces the attribute.