My impact doesn’t start from being confident.
It starts with me being humble.
Humility is a funny thing.
My experience is that it’s easier to be it
than it is to talk about it.
In some ways, talking about it diminishes it.
I’ve learned what it isn’t.
It isn’t necessarily soft-spoken.
It isn’t self-deprecating.
It’s structural.
My structure is humble,
or it’s not.
Structurally,
I admit that I might be wrong.
That I don’t see the whole.
That what I bring is partial.
Without that beginning,
my giving becomes force.
I’ve tried to help without humility.
There is a pattern.
It starts with some form of,
“I know.”
Or maybe it sounds like,
“I see,” or
“I have the answer.”
My help delivered from that certainty
lands like pressure.
People brace.
Nod.
Comply.
They don’t change.
Humility keeps the exchange open.
It allows me, as the giver, to adjust.
It allows the receiver to respond.
Impact requires both.
If I’m not open, I impose.
If you’re not open, you defend.
Nothing moves.
Humility doesn’t shrink contribution.
It makes it more useful.