A Very Demure, Very Mindful Core Value
How Quiet Capability Beats Arrogance Every Time
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.” – C.S. Lewis
You’ve seen them. Those people who are very quietly their own, self-possessed selves no matter what chaos swirls around them. Insulated from insults. Immune to meddling. Steadfast and deliberate in their decisions despite a surging tides of pressure or societal influence.
Theirs is true confidence – so strong and centered in personal character that it morphs into humility.
What’s that? You don’t like the word ‘humility’? Is it too close to ‘humiliation’ for comfort?
Well, buckle up, because this is gonna be a bumpy ride straight through your discomfort zone and into the terrifying wilderness of thorny ideas about pride, courage and sacrificing the spotlight to make room for stronger partnerships.
This is how the FSM team embraces humble confidence as the foundation of all our core values.
Who’s in Charge Here?
“Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity.” – Vanna Bonta
Marketing means promoting others. That’s the very heart of our job. We dig in and uncover all the best aspects of our clients, then polish up the pieces and arrange them in the most appropriate and effective display for their target audience.
We can’t do that very well if we’re focused on making ourselves look good, too. The only thing that helps us market effectively is putting aside our egos to put the needs of others first.
Because if our egos are in charge, we’re going to assume we always know what’s best for every client – when the best way to help a client shine is to listen to them and learn from them first. We go into every new client meeting with our egos firmly in check and our minds open to the story that’s about to unfold.
When we train our focus on our clients, we can see everything that’s there and everything that’s missing – and embrace a wide array of novel ideas for moving forward – rather than forcing them into what we think is the *right* course of action.
The Strength to Step Aside – Or Step Up
“Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.” – John J. McCloy
Ever make a dumb mistake then try to cover it up? Did the coverup make things better? It never does.
It takes a tremendous amount of courage to admit a mistake and work toward fixing it. It also takes mountains of courage to ask for help or admit you don’t know the answer to a problem. In fact, anytime you collaborate with someone else, you’re exhibiting courageous humility – the deep-seated strength of saying, “I have a good idea, but your contributions are going to make it better – way better than I could make it alone!”
Pride Goeth Before the Content Failure
“Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.” – Ezra T. Benson
Whenever there’s an airplane crash, the National Transportation Safety Board investigates. But their goal is not to place blame; it’s to figure out which parts of the process failed so they can avoid more accidents in the future. They focus on solving the problem, not finding a scapegoat.
That’s some humble confidence right there. And it leads to a double win: a stronger, safer process and higher trust among travelers that flying is safe.
The blame game has no winners. And blamers tend to have fragile egos. Pointing a finger takes little creativity – and almost never solves the problem. (Except for cases of bona fide whistleblowers. And murder mysteries. And high-stakes pickleball games. But that’s off topic…)
The point is that arrogance is typically a sign of insecurity. People with fragile egos love to identify a culprit, which absolves them of any problem solving while making them feel like victors.
A humbly confident person only feels victorious when the whole team wins – including the client.
One Core Value to Unite Them All
“It ain’t the heat; it’s the humility.” Yogi Berra
The confidence to be humble forms the foundation of all FSM core values. It’s what helps all of us listen more closely, dig deeper into problems, speak up when something’s not right and build the trust that forms strong partnerships. To be humble and confident takes courage – but we don’t like to brag about it.
