We hear a lot about team building these days.Team-building experts are hired by some corporations to lecture us on how to work more effectively with each other.And they organise awaydays-a time employees spend together away from their usual workplace.

Here in the UK,employees can take part in activities such as Zombie boot camps where military instructors train you how to fight walking “dead people”.For the brainier office workers amongst us there are crime investigations modelled on popular TV dramas like Sherlock Holmes and CSI.

Stressed-out city workers might have ukulele lessons made available to them.Why is that a good team-building exercise?Ukulele teacher Lorraine Bow says,“The fact that they can play a musical instrument within an hour is quite a fulfilling thing,really.It’s not competitive-it’s quite easy to do and a bit less intimidating than a guitar...”

Actually,a horse might be a bit more intimidating than an instrument.The animals are used by a company in Abu Dhabi which teaches leadership through horse training.Basically,you have to go in a yard with a horse and persuade it that you’re the boss by using body language.

Kelly Eide,co-founder of True Leadership,says,“The horses don’t care if your hair is purple,if you’re a man or a woman,if you’re old or young...It transcends (超越) all of those cultural boundaries-age,gender,religion,tradition,etc.-so that’s a perfect fit.And in an organisation where you really need groups of people to gel (相互磨合),who come from different backgrounds which have no common norms,you can teach that most efficiently with a horse.”

And the horse feels instinctively whether or not you are a natural leader.So if after you’ve done a good presentation your boss offers you a carrot,you’ll know where he might have learnt it from.

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Getting to watch surgeries should be exciting for any medical student. But in my case, while two doctors were doing the operation, I was checking my phone every 20 seconds to see how much longer until I could leave. I didn’t belong there; I was only pretending to be there. The truth was, halfway through university, I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor. And I had to decide whether to keep lying to myself, or change course.

Before university, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I’d always wanted to do English but my parents didn’t approve, saying there was no money in it. So I figured I’d just pick a career that looked well-paid, satisfying, and would make my parents proud. “Doctor” hit all three, so I decided to do medicine. I knew all the coursework wouldn’t be easy, but didn't expect to find it as hard as I did. I spent many late nights and weekends studying my brains out, but still didn’t get good grades. I just couldn’t get the material to stick to my brain. By exam time, my grades were terrible and I felt like a fool, but I thought maybe a medical internship (实习医生期) would help raise my spirits. Absurdly, my internship was where I realized how little I wanted to be a doctor.

Every day I’d just go into work and do exactly what I was told, go where I was told to go, and watch what I was told to watch. And then I’d go home. It was fun whenever I got to play with expensive microscopes or watch crazy surgeries, but the rest of the time I struggled to get through the day. The other interns, however, practically worked so hard. They were so driven. I thought, “Wow, these interns really want to be doctors. I obviously don’t.” It was a sad realization that led to a sadder, scarier question: If I didn’t want to be doctor, what did I want to do?

It wasn’t an easy decision.

Eventually, I changed my course to English writing and suddenly I was enjoying university.

The Role of Humility at Work

There are many qualities that leaders must develop if they wish to have a meaningful impact in the workplace. But among these many important qualities, the value of humility seems to be frequently overlooked. Part of this is due to common misconceptions about what it means to be humble.

Humility tends to be overlooked in the workplace because it is frequently misinterpreted as a “weak” quality. We have been led to believe that people who are humble are easily bulldozed (欺负) by others and aren’t willing to stick up for themselves. Many define humility as having a low opinion of oneself. While this may be one widely accepted view of humility today, it is actually a far cry from the true meaning of the word—and the way it should be applied in leadership. Humility isn’t about being passive and weak. It’s about showing respect to others and recognizing truth in all situations, including in the workplace.

A humble professional sounds like the type of person that most of us would prefer to interact with on a daily basis. It is the type of person that can become a truly effective leader. “Humble leaders must be willing to evaluate criticism to determine if it’s valid or not,” said Christopher Ferry, founder of Boca Recovery Center. “The best leaders are willing to admit when they are wrong and view mistakes as learning opportunities so they can turn them into something transformative. In all my work developing the leadership skills of managers, if I could give them any quality with a magic stick, it would be humility.”

Though humility is often underrated by world at large, it’s essential if you want to be successful as a leader, not just at work but in life. Reject your idea to boast or lift yourself above anyone and decide to be at the service of others.

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