Institute for the Study of Pointless Metrics

leadership·Published 2025-07

CEO Self-Reported Humility in Press Interviews and Actual Stakeholder-Rated Humility: A Strong Inverse Relationship

Principal investigator: Dean Beaumont Kessler, Dean of the Practitioner Program.

024681229.54764.582Self-humility references per interview (CEO self-description) (count)Stakeholder-rated humility score (board + direct reports average) (score, 0–100)r = -0.93p < 0.001n = 78
Figure 1. Self-humility references per interview (CEO self-description) versus Stakeholder-rated humility score (board + direct reports average). n = 78.
CEOs who describe themselves as humble in press interviews receive significantly lower humility scores from their direct stakeholders.

Methodology

Seventy-eight CEOs who had given at least one major press or podcast interview in the preceding twelve months were identified from the Institute's media monitoring service. Interview transcripts were coded by two research associates for unprompted self-references to the CEO's own humility, including variations such as 'I try to stay humble,' 'I'm a humble person,' and 'one thing about me is humility.' Stakeholder humility ratings were collected from the CEO's direct reports and board members via an anonymous survey administered by the Institute under the stated purpose of 'executive feedback research.'

Funding disclosure: Funded by the Institute's Leadership Character Research Division, which is chaired by a fellow who has described himself as 'very humble' in the Institute's staff directory.

Instruments cited in this study

Full citation

Kessler, B. (2025). CEO Self-Reported Humility in Press Interviews and Actual Stakeholder-Rated Humility: A Strong Inverse Relationship. Institute for the Study of Pointless Metrics. r = -0.93, p < 0.001, n = 78.

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