THINKDROP 28: Humility as Business Model
- Pierre Stanghellini
- Dec 22, 2025
- 7 min read
>Because the virtuous cycle is the strategy.
🎤 From Me to You
Look around.
Everywhere you turn, the dominant image of “successful leadership” still looks the same: Sharp suits. Sharper elbows. Loud voices. Bigger egos.
A narrative built on dominance, control, and performance at all costs.
We're told that to win, we have to crush.
That the best leaders are visionaries who take no prisoners.
That growth is war. That teams are armies. That founders are gods.
And yet…
The more I build, the more I hire, the more I negotiate, and the more I simply observe —the less I believe in this version of leadership.
In fact, I feel completely out of sync with it.
After 20 years of working, 10 years of entrepreneurship, and 15 years of living in Asia, I've learned something simple but radical:
Violence doesn't scale. Ego doesn't age well. Fear burns fast — and burns people out.
There is another path. One that doesn't shout. One that doesn't squeeze. One that doesn't pretend. It’s not passive. It’s not weak. It’s grounded, lucid, and deeply strategic.
It’s the humility model. Where power is quiet. Decisions are shared. And respect isn't just a cultural value — it's a competitive edge.
This Thinkdrop is my invitation to reconsider how we lead — and what kind of impact we want to leave behind.
Pierre Stanghellini -
HARi.wtf founder
PS: This is the last Thinkdrop of 2025. Two days from Christmas, I’ll be stepping away from work for a few days to spend precious time with my family and enjoy a well-deserved break.
I’ll also take time to pray for each of you — and for your families — wherever you are in the world.
I hope that if this season feels heavy or quiet for you, you still find a moment to rest. To breathe. To know you’re not alone.
Entrepreneurship is not a sprint. It’s a marathon.
And marathons are run better with pauses, with gratitude, with grace.
May God bless you and guide you into 2026. And thank you — truly — for your interest, your support, and your belief in this humble (and sometimes a little crazy) project.
THE 5 PILLARS OF THE HUMILITY BUSINESS MODEL
1. 🤝 Humility toward your suppliers
Respect starts at the source.
Too many businesses squeeze their suppliers to win a few extra points on margin.
It’s short-term thinking. And it poisons the system.
True partnership means transparency, mutual gain, and long-term trust — not domination.
👉 Try This: Call one of your suppliers. Ask them what would make their life easier. Just ask. You might be surprised by what they say.
2. 👥 Humility toward your team
You’re not a guru. You’re a guide.
Leading with humility means recognizing that your team isn’t there to blindly execute your vision. They have their own needs, limits, rhythms.
Real leadership doesn’t come from controlling — it comes from listening, adapting, and serving the whole.
👉 Try This: Ask your team: “What would make your work feel more meaningful or sustainable?”Then shut up and listen. Don’t defend. Take notes. Act.
3. 📟 Humility toward your clients
No, the client isn’t always right. But they do deserve respect.
Some clients are difficult. Some are entitled. Some are just flat-out wrong.
But that doesn’t mean you should fight them — or serve them blindly.
A good business relationship is like a good conversation: balanced, clear, and mutually beneficial.
And if it’s not that — it’s okay to let go.
You are allowed to choose your clients. If someone consistently disrespects your values, your team, or your boundaries, it’s perfectly fine — and sometimes necessary — to kindly end the relationship.
The emotional cost of keeping a toxic client is never worth the revenue.
You’ll see how much it shifts your posture — and theirs.
4. 🥂 Humility in the face of success
You might have been smart. But you were also lucky.
Success doesn’t always mean you were the best.
It might mean you hit the right timing, found the right niche, or simply got a break.
Humility here means staying grounded — and remembering that good results don’t always come from perfect strategy.
👉 Try This: Next time you share a win, replace “we crushed it” with :
“We were ready — and the opportunity showed up.”It’s more accurate.
And more close to reality.
5. 🤭 Humility in how you communicate
You can inspire without posturing.
Just because you have a platform doesn’t mean you need to play the hero.
We don’t need more performative wisdom or overly polished “founder lessons.”
What we need is truth. Vulnerability. Quiet strength.
👉 Try This: Before posting anything online, ask yourself:
“Am I showing off — or showing up? ”That small difference?
It changes everything.
🔄 QUICK RECAP — The Humility Model in 5 Key Ideas
Respect your suppliers: it's the beginning of a stronger chain.
Guide your team with presence, not pressure.
Choose your clients and protect your values.
Celebrate success with clarity, not ego.
Communicate to connect, not to impress.
🔥 FINAL DROP — The Long Game of Humility
We’ve been told that to lead, we need to dominate.
To inspire, we need to impress. To succeed, we need to outshine, outwork, outperform.
But what if that model is broken?What if it only works in short bursts — and leaves a trail of burned-out people, broken relationships, and shallow victories?
Here’s what I’ve learned, after 10 years building companies, leading teams, and making plenty of mistakes:
You can build strong without being brutal.You can grow fast without cutting deep.You can lead with humility — and still win.
Will it make you richer in the next 3 months? Maybe not.
Will it make your business healthier, your team more loyal, your partnerships more solid? Absolutely.
Yes, you may be challenged on this approach.
You’ll hear things like:
“But what about margins?”
“What about control?”
“What about scale?”
Here’s the thing: Short-term dominance feels powerful — but it doesn’t last.
Short-term growth without values is a hollow game.
Pressure doesn’t compound. But trust does.
Fear creates results. But not loyalty.
Ego builds momentum. But never legacy.
The Humility Model is not soft. It’s not naïve.
It’s just built for something bigger than the next quarter.
It’s built for the next decade. For the people you’ll still want beside you. For the reputation you’ll want to keep. For the work you’ll be proud to look back on.
And maybe… just maybe…
= That’s the kind of success that’s actually worth chasing.
As for what comes next?
I can’t wait to see what God is preparing me for in 2026.
I’ll keep showing up — one honest step at a time.
Pierre Stanghellini
→ Let’s connect, drop me a line directly at pierre@hari.wtf .
🧑🍳 Case Study — The Chain of Trust
Two and a half years ago, I started working with Shane Osborn, chef at Arcane, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Hong Kong.
If you know anything about fine dining, you know the culture can be brutal: Shouting, ego, hierarchy, and fear-based leadership. But Shane does things differently. He leads with calm. With presence. With deep respect for his team.
There is no yelling in his kitchen — only precision, care, and consistency.
He doesn’t dominate people. He uplifts them.
And it works: Arcane has kept its Michelin star for the past 10 years — not because Shane is loud, but because he’s intentional.
Some time after, Shane kindly introduced me to Jason Lo, the founder of Waves Pacific — a premium food importer in Hong Kong that has sourced world-class products for over 20 years.
Jason, like Shane, leads with quiet strength. He builds relationships patiently, with integrity and trust. No ego. No pressure. Just clarity and respect.
That introduction became a true partnership.
Not a flashy deal — a long-term collaboration that still thrives today.
Then, two months ago, something extraordinary happened.
Jason introduced me — again, with intention — to Scott de Bruin, founder of Mayura Station, one of the most respected Wagyu beef producers in Australia.
From Adelaide to Hong Kong, I was able to rebuild a full value chain, from the farm to the final plate.
Not by chasing volume.Not by cutting corners.But by moving slowly, listening deeply, and honoring every relationship along the way.
This entire journey — from Shane to Jason to Scott — didn’t happen by force. It happened because humility wasn’t just a personal value.It was the operating system.
Thanks to that business model — and a long-term focus — I’m now working with my first client in Australia: Mayura Station, awarded Best Wagyu Beef in Australia (twice) and selected by more than 5,000 chefs worldwide, from the U.S. to Asia-Pacific.
And most importantly, these men — Shane, Jason, and Scott — are the living proof that humility is not a weakness. It’s a compass. A culture. A strategy.
I’m honored to work with people like this every day — to learn from them, grow beside them, and help others discover their world.They truly deserve it.
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About the Creator
Pierre Stanghellini is a creative strategist, systems thinker, and curator of mental rabbit holes. He created Thinkdrop Weekly to feed the brains that don’t want the same old Business advice. If you’re building something bold, beautiful, or strange—this is your corner of the internet.
About HARi.wtf
HARi.wtf is a creative strategy studio for businesses that hate business-as-usual.
Born in Hong Kong, in 2017, we work with restless founders, operators, and teams who’d rather break things thoughtfully than grow them blandly. We don’t do generic decks or bloated strategies—we build clarity, guts, and traction.
From street-level restaurants to global brands, from Asia to Europe, we help shape ideas that move fast when it matters, and slow when it counts.
→ Explore more at hari.wtf
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