When you’re humble, you know that you make mistakes. If you know that you make mistakes, you don’t feel panicked and defensive about the possibility that you made a mistake. If you’re not panicky or defensive, you have no problem hearing or experiencing people who imply you made mistakes. If you’re able to dispassionately assess such feedback, you’re able to resolve situations, learn, and grow without burning bridges or creating fights.
This is one of the reasons humility is such a strength.
The humble person has nothing to defend or maintain when it comes to perceptions of their own failings. This frees them to focus on the things that matter, navigate to the truth, and take away anything useful.
Humility does not mean being a pushover or not having boundaries. Those result from a lack of humility. When you lack humility, you worry about what people think of you and this makes you avoid conflict, confrontation, and the need to speak strong words or draw clear lines. Those are liable to make you less liked, and when you lack humility, you place inordinate value in being liked.
When you’re humble, you are distanced from the opinion of others enough to do what needs to be done and speak what needs to be spoken, regardless of whether it makes them like you less. This makes you stable, reliable, strong, true, and worthy of respect (even if you’re not always liked).
True humility is in short supply, so we don’t have many good examples. But when someone is unthreatened and not compelled to make sure they get their due, you get glimpses.