Intellectual humility

Intellectual humility is recognizing and owning your intellectual limitations in service of pursuing deeper knowledge, truth, and understanding through curiosity and inquiry.13 Intellectual humility generates and amplifies the growth mindset.14

What is a growth mindset?15

“To briefly sum up the findings: Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and put more energy into learning.”

The Four Stages of Competence1617 are critical to understanding how we learn and how we support how others to learn and grow (Figure 2). On the learning journey, Stage 2 (conscious incompetence) can be very stressful and can result in avoidance, resistance, quitting — and even chronic stress. We might get or feel stuck here because of the expectations we or others have of our performance. Stage 4 masters, not remembering when they were newbies, can unintentionally pile on the stress on Stage 2 learners. Stage 4 masters, smug in their effortless expertise, might be ignorant of their incompetencies in other domains. The solution is to always stay humble, patient, and compassionate of ourselves and others.!

The Networked Talent Model summarizes four competency domains that are essential to short and long-term career success. Formal education, training, and practice is a key path to occupational mastery. Management is getting things done. Leadership is leading change by inspiring and influencing others to commit, align, and act towards a shared goal or mission. Management tasks can be delegated. Leadership is about relationships and it cannot be delegated. Team skills are the interpersonal skills necessary to be an effective team member and leader.