Humbition for Millenials

About a year ago, I caught a piece on NPR about a new internal buzzword at IBM called “humbition.” The phrase stuck with me, and I’ve chewed on it as my career has evolved over the last year.

Since moving to the hospitality industry at the Amway Hotel Collection, I’ve heard a lot about having a “spirit of service.” While this may be a new term for me to employ in my work life, it’s certainly not a new concept.

Growing up in Fremont Wesleyan Church and amidst a hard-working midwestern family, phrases like having “an attitude of servitude” were imprinted into my adolescent brain. The idea is that the ability to serve is a privlege, and therefore serving is not just a gift to those you serve, but a gift to yourself.

This came up a few weeks back as I was chatting with the General Manager of the Ruth’s Chris Steak House recently added to one of our hotels. I asked him why he had chosen to work in the restaurant business, and what kept him going through the sometimes grueling hours.

He explained that the job truly made him happy unlike a regular 9-to-5 would, because he has the opportunity to serve. And no matter how he’s feeling each day, he has to put on a smile and a warm demeanor for his guests. In that process, his mood actually becomes brighter and he truly becomes the joyful servant he must act like to do his job.

I’ve certainly noticed the effect of this in my work environment – the people I work with don’t just treat guests with hospitality, they actually seem to be more accommodating to each other than typical co-workers.

Immersed in a “spirit of service,” it seems we’re more likely to offer our co-workers a beverage, hold a door for them, and say things like “it’s my pleasure.”

Since having a servant’s attitude seems to have such an effect on how we treat each other, I have to think it also has an effect on how we treat ourselves.

So back to IBM’s humbition – the NPR piece I heard was presenting IBM’s concept as the counter to a recent statement Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg had made about talented employees. He said that one exceptional employee is “100 times better” than a pretty-good employee.

While valuing the talent and ambition of its employees, IBM noted that those traits must be combined with humility in order to maintain a productive, harmonious workplace. Hence, an employee musn’t think of himself as being “100 times better” than others in order to be exceptional.

It seems that what IBM realized – and I agree – is that ambition fueled by narcissm is dangerous. And I think it’s not just toxic to the co-workers who may be annoyed or even belittled by this attitude – it’s toxic to the “superstars” themselves.

Why Selfish Ambition is Harmful

Working hard because you feel you have to prove how great you are creates an environment in which people are rooting for you to fail.

One of the most powerful assets we young professionals can have is a network of more experienced folks rooting for us. And we’re not helping to build that network by repeatedly looking for “boo-yah!” moments.

The result is that we millenials are getting a bad wrap, and we’re going to end up cheating ourselves of the invaluable mentorship and opportunities that humility attracts.

Showing that you have humility shows that you have more than the seven years of table waiting experience on your resume – it shows you have promise. You’ll listen, you’ll learn, and you’ll play well with others. “Take a chance on me!” your humility shouts.

Along with robbing us of the support of our elders, a lack of humbition is damaging my generation personally, right down to our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

God doesn’t care how awesome you make your life look on Facebook, and neither does your sub-concious.

Doing acts – even charitable ones – for self-serving reasons isn’t truly rewarding. And by serving or working just for the pay, the recognition, or the Tweet, we’re robbing ourselves of the momentous rewards of living a life rich in meaning.

I think we’re also harming our own self-esteem. While we may be able to craft our resumes and LinkedIn profiles to appear that we’re awesome, we know the truth about ourselves. And putting on the charade chips away at our confidence. “Why do I have to pretend I’m great?” our sub-conscious asks. “I must not really be.”

I believe that we are all worthy and valuable beings that were created in the image of God, and that we were each created to do something unique and amazing that will positively impact the world. I think a necessary component of humility is actually a belief in yourself.

So let’s believe in ourselves, by all means, and believe in ourselves with vigor! Let’s believe in ourselves so much that we ignite the ambition to serve others and figure out what fabulous, amazing, and meaningful print (or lack thereof) we can leave on the world.

For “there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving,” said Og Mandino.

So is an exceptional employee worth 100 times more than a pretty-good employee? Only if he doesn’t think he is.