https://www.forbes.com/sites/lbsbusinessstrategyreview/2026/02/25/leadership-in-2026-why-humility-matters/

Leadership In 2026: Why Humility Matters

ByLondon Business School,

Contributor.

Feb 25, 2026, 07:56am EST

By modelling humility, leaders can foster a culture of trust, innovation, and shared purpose – unlocking employees’ creativity and willingness to experiment.

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By Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour London Business School

Today’s leaders operate in a period of rapid change, with the world of work increasingly fragmented across geographies, generations and different modes of working. Faced with an ever-growing barrage of pressing and often competing demands, the traditional command-and-control approach has given way to a humbler, more human-centred leadership style. But why would the behaviours that define humble leaders help most during periods of rapid change? How can the cultures that humility create help organisations to thrive? In this piece, I offer insight into why humility is a powerful mechanism that leaders can use to unlock the collective intelligence that ensures organisational relevance.

The world is moving faster, and is more complex, than ever before. To put it bluntly, no one person is sufficiently sagacious to have all the answers, and even if they did, today, by the time they got employees to shift their behaviours the environment would have shifted again. This means leaders need to have the humility and courage to admit that they can benefit from the insights and expertise of others.

As I wrote in my book Alive at Work, leaders set the vision and the direction, while employees have the hands-on knowledge to be able to develop practical new approaches to make organisations work better. Consequently, much of leadership today is about orchestrating and facilitating the flow of ideas. It is about motivating employees with a strategic vision of the future, boosting their curiosity and enthusiasm, and then giving them the freedom and resources to try new things.

Trust is key

For decades, the word “leadership” projected decisiveness, certainty and unassailable authority. That might still work in some instances, when leaders have all the answers and the environment is not changing much. But during periods of change, employees need to trust in the direction that their leaders are taking them, and leaders need to trust that their teams are committed to facilitating or making the changes required.

Being able to challenge the status quo is essential when seeking to drive or navigate change. So making people feel valued and heard, and empowering them to make a difference, helps to unlock the creativity and collective intelligence that organisations need to thrive. This is where humble leadership has the edge over more dominant styles of leadership. Humble leaders also tend to be better at building trust with their teams as they actively seek input, listen to people’s views, and give credit where credit is due. While dominant leaders tend to suppress dissent and discourage open dialogue, humble leaders seek to foster a culture of psychological safety where employees are more likely to speak up and share ideas.

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The power of the collective

Building a culture of collaboration and innovation is one of the best ways to energise employees and ensure organisational relevance. By encouraging input and allowing people to learn from mistakes, humble leaders create the right conditions for continuous improvement. Continuous learning is also helped by leaders admitting their own limitations. When leaders recognize that they don’t know everything, they increase transparency and build connection and trust.

Focussing on collective success, and providing tangible, emotional support to employees as they problem-solve, learn and explore helps to unlock their potential and is a valuable mechanism to drive organisational performance.

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Similarly, connecting daily work to a broader sense of purpose is also key as employees who feel purposeful are more motivated and energised. By inspiring people to find meaning in their roles, humble leaders allow employees to bring their best selves to work. This helps to drive higher levels of engagement, satisfaction, and retention.

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Ultimately, leadership style shapes organisational culture. Employees who feel heard and valued invest discretionary effort and are more likely to remain loyal to the organisation. By modelling humility, leaders can foster a culture of trust, innovation, and shared purpose – unlocking employees’ creativity and willingness to experiment. It’s this that will allow your organization to adapt and succeed.

Author bio:

Dan Cable is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. His research and teaching focus on organisational culture, activating positive emotions, and getting employees into commitment instead of just compliance. He is the author of several books, including ‘Exceptional’, ‘Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do’, and ‘Change to Strange’. Dan recently spoke about ‘Leadership in 2026: Why humility matters’ at a London Business School Think Ahead event.