WEDNESDAY - JUNE 10, 2026

HUMPDAY

Your weekly dose of Insight & Inspiration

The Teachable Leader

Why staying open to learning is one of the most powerful things you can do as a leader

My first leadership experience beyond the charge nurse role was as a director in an emergency department. I spent nearly 20 years at the ED bedside so considered myself to be a subject matter expert by the time I stepped into the director role. I’ll never forget the first time I made a statement at a staff meeting and a staff member challenged me. Unfortunately, my first reaction was to get defensive - which never benefits anyone. My second reaction was to stand my ground. After all, I was the director therefore I should know more than the people I am charged with leading - that’s why I am the leader! As you can imagine, neither of my responses served me well in that moment. Lucky for me, I had the privilege of leading a great team who were all very gracious when it came to “breaking me in” as a leader. Turns out, my staff member was right and I was wrong. Not my finest leadership moment but definitely one that I learned from.

"The moment you think you have nothing left to learn is the moment you stop being an effective leader."

There is a quiet but dangerous assumption that can take root in even the most well-intentioned leader: the belief that reaching the top means you have already arrived — that the title on your door is a certificate of complete knowledge.

It isn’t. It never was. And the leaders who thrive long-term are the ones who never stopped being students.

Being the boss does not mean you have all the answers. It means you have ultimate responsibility for finding the best answers — and the best answers often live in the people around you. The caregiver two levels down who spots an inefficiency. The frontline nurse who knows exactly why patients and doctors are frustrated. The new grad with a perspective untainted by “the way we’ve always done it.”

Teachability is not a weakness. It is a leadership superpower.

Humility is Not Hesitation

Some leaders confuse humility with uncertainty. They worry that admitting they don’t know something - or that a team member knows something better - will undermine their authority. The opposite is true.

When you acknowledge a great idea from your team, you are not diminishing your leadership. You are demonstrating it. You are showing that your goal is the best outcome, not the biggest ego. That kind of leader earns trust.

Consider what it communicates to your team when you:

• Genuinely ask for input rather than just performing consultation - or worse - not asking at all.

• Credit someone publicly when their idea shaped your decision

• Openly say, “I hadn’t thought of it that way - that is a better approach. Thank you!”

• Seek out perspectives from those with different vantage points than your own

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The Confidence You Build in Others

There is a compounding effect to teachable leadership. When people see that their leader genuinely values their insights, they begin to invest more. They observe more carefully. They think more critically. They bring more of themselves to work because they believe it will actually be valued and received.

The alternative is a leader who signals (even subtly) that ideas flow only downward. This quietly shuts the team down. People stop offering thoughts and ideas. They just comply with whatever (crazy) decision has already been made. They wait to be told instead of being proactive about finding solutions. Over time, the team’s collective intelligence goes untapped, and the leader is left carrying a weight they didn’t need to carry alone.

Teachable leaders create a culture where learning flows in every direction - upward, downward and across horizontally. That is the environment where innovation not just lives but thrives.

3 PRACTICES FOR THE TEACHABLE LEADER

1. Ask curious questions. When someone brings a new perspective, lean in before evaluating. Ask, “Tell me more” instead of immediately offering your own view.

2. Celebrate the source. When a team member brings forward an idea - acknowledge it and thank them. If their idea improves a decision or outcome, celebrate it publicly. Recognition reinforces that great thinking is welcome at every level.

3. Seek out the front line. Regularly create space to hear from people who are closest to the work, the customer, or the problem. They see things leaders will never see from the view in their office.

A Final Thought

The leaders most remembered by their teams are rarely the ones that had all the answers. They are the ones who created an environment where the right answers could surface - and who had the wisdom and humility to recognize them when they did.

Your title opens doors. Your teachability determines what, and who, walks through them.

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This week chose one moment to learn from someone who reports to you. Ask a genuine question. Really listen. See what changes.

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I’d love to hear from you. Please reach out and share if you found this insight helpful or if there’s a topic you’d like to see in a future Humpday. Stacie@LumisLeadership.com

~ Stacie

The “Humpday” was an e-mail originally created by a great leader and mentor - Marc Strode. He used the Humpday to bring insight and inspiration to his team every week. With his permission and at his request to Keep the Spirit - the Humpday lives on. Marc, thank you for being a leader worth following. Despite your love for camels, you truly are the GOAT!