The most reliable leaders act like donkeys because donkeys are steady, loyal, and willing to carry the load long after flashier animals have quit. Stallions win attention. Donkeys get the work done, and companies built on steady, humble leaders tend to outlast the ones built around a celebrity at the top.

People ask me about the title of my book, Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It, all the time. So let me clear something up. The “ass” has nothing to do with anyone’s backside. It refers to a donkey. Donkeys get a bad rap. People call them stubborn and slow. Spend time around them and you see something else: they stay calm when the road gets rough, they keep going when others give up, and they are surprisingly brave when it matters most. That sounds a lot like the leaders I would follow anywhere.

TLDR

• “Dumbassery” means embracing what you don’t know, asking for help, and letting the people around you shine.
• Celebrity-style leaders attract attention, but research from Stanford links narcissistic leaders to lower integrity, weaker teamwork, and costlier legal fights.
• Jim Collins found that the leaders who took companies from good to great paired personal humility with fierce professional will.
• Donkey leaders grow talent from within. At WD-40 Company, a part-time receptionist rose to lead the Walmart sales team, and a lab assistant became Global Leader of R&D.
• Your dumbassery is your superpower, and accepting it starts with you.

What Does “Dumbassery” Mean in Leadership?

Dumbassery is the willingness to admit what you don’t know and to treat the people around you as the experts. It is humility put to work every day: asking questions, sharing credit, and making it safe for others to speak.

Picture two people at a business lunch. One I call Whozits. Whozits has all the answers and will fill the next 45 minutes with stories of his own brilliance. The other is an everyday bloke who asks what you think and actually listens. Who would you rather work beside, year after year? I choose the dumbass every time. The people who fly that flag high have the best stories, and they give you a chance to get a word in.

That choice matters well beyond lunch. Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report found only 20 percent of employees worldwide were engaged in 2025, manager engagement fell to 22 percent from 31 percent in 2022, and low engagement cost the global economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity. When people check out, a leader who makes work about themselves is often the reason.

Only 20 percent of employees worldwide were engaged in 2025, and low engagement cost the global economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity. Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026

Why Do Stallion-Style Leaders Get Chosen So Often?

Stallion-style leaders get chosen because confidence and charisma look like competence in a job interview or a boardroom. The trouble shows up later, when that confidence turns into ego and the team pays the price.

Charles O’Reilly at Stanford Graduate School of Business has studied this for years. In How Narcissistic Leaders Destroy from Within, he notes that 20 or 30 studies show groups of strangers disproportionately select narcissists as their leaders. His experiments with Bernadette Doerr found narcissistic leaders more likely to lie, cheat, and steal to prove their special status, and that behavior cascades through the organization until it becomes normal. A separate study of 32 large technology firms found that more narcissistic CEOs were tied to longer, costlier lawsuits, because they chase risky wins that serve their image.

A stallion runs fast and looks magnificent doing it. Put a heavy load on its back and a long, rocky road ahead, and you will wish you had brought the donkey.

What Does the Research Say About Humble Leaders?

The research consistently finds that humble leaders build stronger teams and better companies. Humility spreads from the top, improves collaboration, and helps organizations adapt.

In his Harvard Business Review classic, Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve, Jim Collins describes the executives who transformed good companies into great ones as a paradoxical blend of extreme personal humility and intense professional will. They credited others for success and took personal responsibility for failure. Many were quiet, even shy. Few would have made a magazine cover.

Newer studies back him up. A study of 105 technology firms published in the Journal of Management found that humble CEOs build more collaborative top teams, which in turn support better strategic decisions. Research by Bradley Owens and David Hekman in the Academy of Management Journal, covering 607 people across 161 teams, found that a leader’s humility spreads to the whole team and lifts performance.

The leaders who took companies from good to great combined extreme personal humility with intense professional will. Jim Collins, Harvard Business Review

How Do Donkey Leaders Grow Talent From Within?

Donkey leaders grow talent from within by staying out of the spotlight and giving their people the room to develop. Steady leaders invest in the tribe they already have instead of hunting for a hero from outside.

At WD-40 Company, Shannon started as a part-time receptionist and went on to lead the sales team for Walmart. Meghan began as a lab assistant, went back to school for her Ph.D., and became our Global Leader of R&D. We sent more than 30 tribe members through the same Master of Science in Executive Leadership program with Ken Blanchard that gave me my own start when I arrived from Australia. The same philosophy runs through Helping People Win at Work, the book Ken and I wrote together.

The economics favor this approach. Wharton professor Matthew Bidwell found that external hires are paid about 18 to 20 percent more than internal staff promoted into similar roles, yet receive significantly lower performance evaluations for their first two years and leave at higher rates. The donkey approach is kinder and cheaper.

How Can Leaders Put Their Dumbassery to Work?

Leaders put their dumbassery to work by asking more than they tell and by watching who does the talking. The goal is a room where everyone feels safe to learn out loud.

Try this in your next meeting. Throw out a question, then sit back and watch. Your direct reports will usually jump in first, because they want to impress you. The wisest ones will stay quiet and let their own people answer. That tells you which of your leaders are letting their dumbassery take the back seat so others can show their value. We built this into the Maniac Pledge at WD-40 Company: “If I need to know, I’m responsible for asking. I have no right to be offended that I didn’t get this sooner.” That kind of pledge only works in a culture with the psychological safety to ask without fear, and that safety starts with the leader.

“Your dumbassery is your superpower, if you know how to use it.” Garry Ridge, Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the meaning of “Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It”?

The title refers to a donkey. Garry Ridge uses the donkey as a symbol of steady, loyal, humble leadership. The idea is that great leadership comes from consistency and service more than brilliance or charisma.

What is “dumbassery” in leadership?

Dumbassery is Garry Ridge’s term for embracing what you don’t know. It means asking questions, admitting mistakes, and treating the people around you as the experts. Leaders who practice it create safer, more honest teams.

Are humble leaders more effective than charismatic leaders?

Research suggests humble leaders produce stronger long-term results. Jim Collins found the leaders of good-to-great companies combined humility with fierce professional will, and studies in the Academy of Management Journal show leader humility spreads to teams and improves performance. Charisma without humility often turns into ego.

What are the risks of narcissistic leadership?

Stanford research links narcissistic leaders to lower integrity, weaker teamwork, and costlier legal disputes. Their self-serving behavior tends to spread through the organization and becomes hard to reverse. Groups also tend to select narcissists as leaders, which makes the risk easy to overlook.

Why should companies promote from within?

Wharton research found that external hires cost about 18 to 20 percent more and receive lower performance evaluations in their first two years than internal promotions. Promoting from within also signals to the whole tribe that growth is possible, which strengthens loyalty and belonging.

What Is the Learning Moment for Leaders?

Leadership rarely looks like the stallion charging across the field. More often it looks like the donkey: humble, consistent, carrying the load, and helping other people get where they need to go. Almost everyone who reaches a senior role thinks they are supposed to have all the answers. The real job is to help others develop, know, and share the answers from their own point of view.

My challenge to you: in your next meeting, ask one question and then stay quiet for as long as it takes. Appreciate that you are surrounded by people who likely know more than you do, and welcome the chance to have your mind changed. Any dumbass can do it. To explore more tools for humble, learning-centered leadership, visit The Learning Moment.