Leaders, when they are leading, are humble people. We Americans, with our culture of rugged individualism, tend to doubt the humility of leadership. We point to the egotism of an FDR or the pride of a Napoleon. Leaders are not saints. They are the most ordinary of people with all the flaws we all have.
Pride is a very common flaw.
In those times, they are humble. Unlike the other elements of Total Quality Management, leadership cannot be expressed as a recipe, an algorithm, a set of instructions, or a pattern. On the other hand, the capacity for leadership is widespread in the human population. The only way I know to learn to lead is to watch other leaders and to develop in myself those virtues I observe during the leadership process. Once we know what the customers want and understand the gaps between their requirements and our performance, we are ready to charter quality improvement teams to start into the improvement process.