By: Adam Cheney on September 2, 2025
This week’s reading on conversations seems to flow directly out of last week’s reading of Humble Leadership. The ideas grow together, as one cannot have humble leadership without learning how to navigate difficult conversations around difficult topics. Likewise, it is necessary to engage in difficult conversations with humility and a learning attitude. I especially loved…
By: Shela Sullivan on September 1, 2025
Introduction One component of my job description as a Category Manager is negotiation—specifically, conducting competitive bidding processes that result in contract awards. These negotiations often culminate in selecting the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) bidder, a decision rooted in fairness, compliance, and fiscal responsibility. Yet, despite the objectivity of the process, those who are not…
By: Jeff Styer on September 1, 2025
Based on some of our cohort’s previous posts, I am picturing many of us starting this week’s post off naming the person(s) in our lives whom we cannot have a conversation with regarding certain topics. For many years I have avoided discussing religion and politics with my dad. Over the years, when it comes to…
By: Jennifer Eckert on September 1, 2025
A few months ago, I found myself in a friendly debate with a friend about a controversial topic. Honestly, I don’t fully recall where I was trying to go with my sentiment; I just knew that I was losing my footing. My speech sped up, my responses became choppier, and before I knew it, I…
By: Joel Zantingh on August 29, 2025
In a world that often celebrates individualism and self-made success, Humble Leadership by Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein offers a refreshing and necessary counter-narrative. The authors argue that the future of effective leadership lies not in authority or charisma, but in relationships, openness, and trust—the building blocks of interdependence. This concept is not just theoretical; it’s…
By: Daren Jaime on August 29, 2025
More than three decades ago, I was introduced to a profound leadership statement. It said if a leader is out in front and no one is following them, then that leader is simply taking a walk. Throughout my time as a leader, submitting to leadership, learning, and growing, I can honestly attest to this truth.…
By: Noel Liemam on August 28, 2025
This book, ‘Humble Leadership,’ contains takeaways that can enrich one’s leadership journey as these lessons are harvested and applied diligently. Upon hearing the title without diving into this book, my thoughts dwelled on the idea that this book would address leadership attitude in terms of humility and pride. Well, it did, but more; and even…
By: Julie O'Hara on August 28, 2025
In Humble Leadership, Edgar and Peter Shein offer a leadership model and practical application that is relationship-centered and trust-driven. Their proposition is a far cry from where I began my leadership journey. Their insights offered two timely gifts: one, an affirming awareness of how my leadership has evolved; and two, a lens to better understand…
By: Chad Warren on August 28, 2025
This summer, my youngest son and I decided to take on a challenge together: a Lord of the Rings movie marathon. We set aside time across several evenings, pressing “play” and letting ourselves be swept back into Tolkien’s world of hobbits, wizards, and wandering kings. By the time we reached the climactic scenes in The…
By: Diane Tuttle on August 28, 2025
I spent most of my day interviewing candidates for one of our senior leadership positions. In some ways I was excited to see who might become part of the team that cares deeply for the individuals our organization serves and works well collaboratively. Yet it was also exhausting and a bit intimidating. I have probably…
By: Ryan Thorson on August 28, 2025
This first book in our final course on leadership was well timed and helpful in the season of leadership that I’m in. The best analogy I have for this week was feeling like a bucket that was full of water and overflowing, but the hose was still on and pouring water into the bucket. Transitions…
By: Kari on August 28, 2025
“We have had three other foreigners in this position to help us improve quality, but what has been lacking is leadership. We think you can help us. Can you start tomorrow?” I was honored to be offered a high nursing leadership position in an up-and-coming hospital in Nouakchott. The hospital owners aspire to provide the…
By: Elysse Burns on August 28, 2025
At the heart of leadership is a choice: will we remain transactional, or will we step into deeper trust and openness? In Humble Leadership, Schein & Schein argue that Level 2 relationships—connections that honor the whole person rather than just the role—are foundational for growth and transformation. They provide the ground on which something new…
By: Graham English on August 28, 2025
Church leaders are navigating a landscape marked by complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change. In such a world, older models of leadership rooted in hierarchy, charisma, control, certainty, and individual authority are increasingly insufficient. What is emerging instead is a robust vision of leadership that emphasizes relationships, widespread collaboration, shared responsibility, and requires unmistakable humility. Humble…
By: Shela Sullivan on August 27, 2025
Introduction Imagine a landscape where leaders earn trust through vulnerability, build teams through relationships, and inspire change through humility—this is the world Humble Leadership dares us to create. Humber Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust by Edgar H Schein and Peter A. Schein introduces a new leadership standard that matters to existing and…
By: Jennifer Eckert on August 27, 2025
I have been volunteering in a women’s prison for nearly a decade. Two Saturdays a month, I leave home at 6:00 AM, arrive at the facility by 7:00 AM, and begin the lengthy entry process. I’m greeted by a massive gate, which feels like something out of Jurassic Park. My belongings are scanned by an…
By: Jeff Styer on August 27, 2025
First, forgive my ramblings as my brain has been on vacation and has not fully shifted back into school mode. As a social work professor, I have the privilege of teaching a course called Social Work Practice with Organizations and Communities. As soon as I picked up Humble Leadership, I immediately recognized Edgar Schein’s name. …
By: Glyn Barrett on August 27, 2025
In Humble Leadership,[1] Edgar and Peter Schein challenge one of the most ingrained assumptions in modern organisational life: that leadership is primarily about roles, hierarchy, and transactions. They argue that leadership at its most transformative emerges not through authority or position but through what they call “Level 2 relationships.”[2] This idea serves as a reorientation…
By: Debbie Owen on August 26, 2025
The exercise at the end of Humble Leadership [1] was humbling… and not necessarily in the best way. I drew a circle with my initials at the center of the page. Then I drew circles around that center circle with initials for many people at church. As suggested, I added circles and initials for my…
By: Adam Cheney on August 25, 2025
I was bored — reading through the first book of the semester — Humble Leadership, wondering why our Advanced Subject Matter Expert would have us read this book. It seemed as if the book was just an addition to some of the other leadership books along a similar vein to Rare Leadership or Simon Walker’s…
