If you’ve answered the question above with, “Absolutely yes, I am a very humble leader,” you probably are not.

But don’t get me wrong: Humility should not be a substitute for confidence. In fact, perhaps the two greatest assets a lean leader, change agent, innovation pioneer, or a continuous improvement champion can have are to be both confident and humble, or quietly confident. So, while the assertion of “Absolutely yes, I am a very humble leader” displays an immense amount of confidence, a quietly humble person would have more likely answered, “I believe I am, but it is best that you ask those who work for me, since they are on the receiving end of my direction.” This same person would have been confident in his own humility but open and interested in the responses from those who work for him, be willing to accept the criticism, and even possibly change. He also would have known that the most accurate and truthful answers would not come from him but from those who work with him.

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