The Daily Stat: Humility Compensates for Low Mental Ability

 

Are you having trouble viewing this email? If so, click here to see it in a web browser.

October 08, 2013 Humility Compensates for Low Mental Ability Among students with low mental ability, those who were rated by others as highly humble scored about 9% higher on performance measures over a 10-week team task than those who were seen as not humble. Humility's performance-boosting effect was much less pronounced for highly intelligent people, says a team led by Bradley P. Owens of the State University of New York at Buffalo. The compensatory power of humility for those with low mental ability is probably due to humble people's teachability, which is a result of their willingness to honestly understand their weaknesses, the researchers say. SOURCE: Expressed Humility in Organizations: Implications for Performance, Teams, and Leadership

PREVIOUS STATS Leisure-Time Inventions Hit a Peak in Middle Age Customers Care More About a Line's Length than How Fast It Moves Entrepreneurial-Minded Americans Cluster in the Western States Men's Self-Esteem Drops When Their Female Partners Succeed Do Depraved Thoughts Make You More Creative? The Act of Choosing a Treatment May Boost Its Effect on You

BEST SELLERS HBR's 10 Must Reads: The Essentials | HBR's 10 Must Reads Boxed Set | HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations | HBR Guide to Better Business Writing | HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done

FEATURED PRODUCT Stats and Curiosities: From Harvard Business Review The Daily Stat is now a book! Get all the best stats, handpicked from our archives and curated by topic. Download a free preview today!

FEATURED PRODUCT The Good Struggle: Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World HBR Press Book The question of how to lead successfully and responsibly is crucially important in our uncertain, high-pressure, turbulent world. In this book, Harvard Business School Professor and best-selling author Joseph Badaracco answers this question in practical and, at times, provocative ways. Leaders today are surrounded by what Badaracco calls “the new invisible hand”—powerful, pervasive markets that touch and shape almost everything. As a result, understanding the inevitability and importance of struggle is critical. And leaders must go a step further to create what Badaracco calls “the good struggle” in order to meet their goals at work, as well as their goals in life. The Good Struggle helps you meet the relentless challenges of being a leader today by identifying the most important questions you should be asking yourself. New answers to these questions can be found by watching leaders in dynamic settings, especially entrepreneurs. The conditions entrepreneurs have always faced—intense competition, scarce resources, and unforgiving markets—are true now for the rest of us, and they offer valuable, practical lessons about struggling and succeeding in volatile and uncertain environments. Buy It Now

ADVERTISEMENT

HBR.ORG | THE MAGAZINE | BLOGS | BOOKS | CASES | STORE | SUBSCRIBE TO HBR UNSUBSCRIBE | NEWSLETTERS PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT Copyright © 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing, an affiliate of Harvard Business School. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing 60 Harvard Way Boston, MA 02163 CUSTOMER SERVICE: 800-545-7685 (US/Canada) 1-617-783-7600 (outside the U.S. and Canada)