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Magnanimity & Humility

Picture of Lucas Wollschlager By  Lucas Wollschlager  ·  2 minute read

What are leaders defined by?

It isn’t what they do, how much they make, the success they have, or the like. It isn’t their title alone. It’s deeper.

Leaders are defined by their virtue.

And today, let’s focus on two virtues that really make leaders great:

Magnanimity and Humility.

Magnanimity

Leaders always have a dream. This is what becomes their vision and mission. Anyone who starts a company, for instance, has a dream. They must or else they’d never be successful.

“Start with the end in mind.” Magnanimity is the virtue that enables you to not just strive but have that great end in mind from the get-go.

Humility

Leaders must also take the abstract and make it concrete.

For the true leader, “thinking big” is only step one. Next comes service. And no, not the kind of service you sell either.

True service isn’t something you buy or sell; it’s something you freely give to another. It’s the art of recognizing and respecting another’s dignity as a human person.

The one thing that makes this kind of service possible is the virtue of humility.

Together, magnanimity provides the BIG, lofty vision; humility channels these ambitions into serving others in concrete ways.

Why Are These Virtues So Important?

It’s simple.

These virtues were held in high esteem by most for a long time. Today, they are almost entirely forgotten, amongst leaders especially.

Most people are too “small-minded”; thinking only about themselves and never pursuing anything great in life. As mentioned earlier, “service” is almost exclusively a business term. All of a sudden, service is something you buy.

The byproduct? A lack of trust.

The Key To Building Trust As a Leader

If there is one thing a leader MUST have between them and those they lead, it is trust.

But today, trust isn’t exactly handed out like candy, something our team at Called has termed “The Trust Dilemma”. People are over institutions. Particularly young people (Ages 18-40). Governments, corporations, and churches are all suspect and completely discredited. Trust is gone.

This isn’t good for the modern leader.

The truth is: the only leader who will regain the kind of trust that our society lacks is the virtuous leader. To be more specific, the magnanimous and humble leader.

“Virtue creates the space where leadership happens by instilling trust. The reason is that trust begins when others know you will serve them.” — Alexandre Havard, Virtuous Leadership

RESOURCES

Below are some resources you can check out if you want to dive deeper into the virtues and some of the ideas shared above.

Called exists for this: Evangelize By Community.

We do so by empowering ministry leaders like you to build thriving groups and communities in 3 key ways:

  1. Building digital tools that enable effective communication, organization, and conversation all in one place. Download Called today (Apple Store or Google Play)
  2. Providing education on best practices for leadership, building communities, and using technology. Follow us on Linkedin.
  3. We connect leaders with leaders to share and learn from each other about what works and doesn’t work via our leader's community on Called.