I have, as polite people say, “reached a certain age.” I was also the CEO of an organization tasked with providing safe yet vibrant homes to seniors during a global pandemic. Because of these two things, my thoughts have become increasingly focused on the people who have helped shape my values—people like my wife and children, my parents, my grandparents, my teachers and coaches, and my business mentors.

I am awed at the mentorship I have received from all avenues of my life. Like all who have the good fortune to advance into leadership positions, I owe those who have mentored me so much. The act of recalling how much I owe others keeps me humble.

In my experience, humility is a trait of good leaders. They are grateful for what their careers have allowed them to experience and appreciate working among others who demonstrate passion and commitment.

For me, humility fuels a desire to never stop learning. It supports me when I make mistakes, teaches me to acknowledge them, and helps me discover how to remedy them. Believe me, I’ve made my share of mistakes. You will, too. If you are committed to learning from them, they’ll provide some of the most important lessons you will ever learn.

Perhaps my greatest mentor as a young teen was one of my hockey coaches, Reg Sinclair.

Mr. Sinclair was the president of Maritime Beverages, the Pepsi bottler and distributor in Saint John, New Brunswick. He was an extremely respected businessman and influential citizen. It says a lot about Mr. Sinclair that he chose to volunteer his time coaching a group of boys at a boarding school, for not only had he once been the Vice-President of Pepsi International, he had been the NHL’s top rookie scorer in the 1950–51 season with the New York Rangers.

Despite success in the NHL, he wanted to put his university degree to use and left hockey to work for Pepsi for $275 a month. He ascended through the Pepsi company with the speed he had in the NHL.

Yet the man I met was humble, a true gentleman, full of wisdom, and a great teacher. He gave generously to the community and was deeply involved in many of its organizations. He’d been wildly successful at everything he’d put his mind to and had lived worldwide.

Where did he choose to spend some of his precious time? Coaching a group of adolescent boys. His lessons were not lost on me. He helped me understand the importance of giving back—and the equally important lesson of not seeking credit for it.

Reg Sinclair embodied the true spirit of humility. Following his belief that I could attain anything I put my mind to, once I entered the business and found new mentors, I quickly became a great believer in transparency, including the transparency required for leaders to lead by example.

This is acknowledging mistakes, which is a very specific kind of humility. Not only do humble people admit to missteps they have taken (something that will happen no matter the care we take in our planning simply because of the pace of decision-making that is required to be a nimble organization), they share them with their teams in a manner that all can learn from them.

It can be difficult to share the mistakes I’ve made, but with practice and time, I’ve learned to take a kind of pride in my learning scars. When you admit that you’re not perfect, it’s a lot easier for team members to change how they see themselves. They’re more willing to learn from experience and less likely to cover up the skills they need to develop.

I remember when I interviewed for the leadership role at CML Healthcare with Patrice Merrin, the Board Chair, when she asked me to describe some of my learning scars. While it was a difficult job interview question to address, I thought it was a smart one. It is useful to think back to the times in your career that may have been the hardest but in which you learned the most.

Recalling difficult lessons learned is a fast track to humility. You have to be able to differentiate when projecting strength is a disguise for uncertainty and when doing so is meant to inspire confidence and engagement in the face of crisis. Your team members will see through the former and find inspiration and motivation in the latter.

If you are intent on changing your organization’s culture and helping to develop teams that establish a balance between accountability and empowerment—themes I will discuss in my next blog post—demonstrating and encouraging humility is a great place to start.