Episode Details

You’re Coachable, But Are You Truly Humble?

You’ve been coachable your entire career. You take feedback, adjust your approach, read books, listen to podcasts, and implement what works. Yet being coachable doesn’t automatically make you humble—and that gap may be costing you more than you realize.

Nicolas Restrepo, Senior Vice President of Sales at World Emblem, shared on a recent Sales Gravy Podcast episode: “What advice would I give myself ten years ago? Be humble. There’s a difference between being coachable and being humble.”

Most sales leaders assume coachability covers everything. If you’re open to learning, you’re set—right? Not quite. The best sales leadership is built not only on willingness to learn, but on recognizing that your success was never yours alone.

What Being Coachable Actually Means

A coachable leader stays receptive. Feedback isn’t a threat. Adjustments aren’t a burden. You ask questions, try new techniques, and pivot when something stops working.

Coachable leaders attend training sessions and apply what they learn. They don’t cling to “the way we’ve always done it” when the market shifts. Adaptability is their baseline.
But it’s only half the picture.

What Being Humble Actually Means

Humility isn’t self-deprecation. It’s acknowledging the full story behind every win.

Humble leaders recognize the customer service rep who handled tough calls, the operations team that pulled off a miracle to meet a deadline, and the mentor who guided them through a high-stakes negotiation.

Humility shows up when leaders look at a win and say “we did that” instead of “I did that.” It changes the way you speak, how you coach, and how your team shows up around you.

Why Sales Leaders Confuse the Two

It’s easy to blur the lines. Coachability requires some humility. You have to acknowledge you don’t know everything. But it’s possible to be coachable and still operate from ego.

Some leaders take feedback on their discovery process while taking full credit for the deal. They embrace a new objection-handling framework but never acknowledge the people who supported the outcome. They accept coaching but keep score of how often they were right.

Coachability grows your skills. Humility grows your people.

The Risks of Only Having One

Coachability without humility burns teams out. You may improve individually, but hoarding credit discourages collaboration. When that happens, reps start withholding help because they know their contribution won’t be recognized. They stop sharing insights. They stop going the extra mile. Coachable-but-not-humble leaders also tend to ask for help too late. They’ll accept advice when it arrives but rarely seek it out until they’re underwater.

Humility without coachability leads to stagnation. You may share credit generously and build strong relationships, but if you refuse to learn hard truths about your blind spots, your team stalls with you. Some leaders disguise resistance to growth as modesty, deflecting responsibility r