The Truth about Vulnerability for Leaders: What you Need to Know to Successfully Lead with Vulnerability
What does it really mean to lead with vulnerability? And what do most leaders get wrong about vulnerability – to the detriment of their teams, their organizations and their own careers?
In the latest episode of We are Human Leaders, we speak with best-selling author, futurist and in-demand speaker Jacob Morgan. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jacob unpacks one of the most pervasive misconceptions about leadership and vulnerability. He shares the skills leaders of the future will need to have to navigate the future of work successfully – allowing AI to uplift humans at work and beyond.
The difference between vulnerability vs leading with vulnerability
Jacob makes clear that what we might think of as vulnerability is not the approach leaders need to take. “Leading with vulnerability is not the same as vulnerability. Vulnerability is about exposing a gap that you might have. Leading with vulnerability is about exposing a gap that you might have and demonstrating what you're doing to close that gap.”
It’s this step that’s so often missing in leadership, as Jacob explains. He offers the example, “Leading with vulnerability is saying, I'm really sorry I messed this up. And here's what I learned, and here's what I'm going to do in the future to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm exposing the gap and I'm demonstrating what I'm doing to close that gap.”
Among the myriad messages leaders receive about how to build and foster trust, respect and psychological safety within their organizations and teams, the term ‘vulnerability’ gets bandied around a lot. However, not understanding how to lead with vulnerability undermines the leadership journey. “Too often we tell employees, be vulnerable at work. That's terrible advice. It's not to say that you shouldn't be vulnerable, but you have to add that second piece: Don't just talk about the gap. Talk about what you're doing to close that gap.” At Human Leaders, we couldn’t agree more with the importance of demonstrating this commitment – and staying accountable to yourself and your team. As we often say, we are all Human first, Leader second.
The essential ingredient to growth and learning: vulnerability
Jacob shares the dangers of avoiding vulnerability for leaders. “Without leading with vulnerability, you cocoon yourself in the current version of yourself. You stay in that static, present state, but the world around you changes. And over time you become a lesser version of yourself.” This kind of corrosive impact can be avoided when leaders lean into the opportunities the act of vulnerability inherently creates. This makes the ability to lead with vulnerability an essential part of the Evolution component of Human Leadership framework.
“People think the opposite of vulnerability is invulnerability or doing nothing. It's not. The opposite of vulnerability is stagnation and eventual gradual decline.”
In this inspiring We are Human Leaders conversation, we also explore the potential benefits of leading with vulnerability for you and your team. At the team level, leading with vulnerability creates psychological safety. Jacob: “It allows employees to come forward to share ideas if they have them, to identify opportunities, to mitigate threats, to serve customers better. You have a team that's constantly becoming a better version of itself.” And for leaders, it also has multiple benefits: “Do you want to keep learning and growing? Do you have aspirations to move ahead and progress in your career? If so, you can't do that without leading with vulnerability.”
The Future of Work needs Human Leaders
Jacob is clear when it comes to how leaders need to meet the challenges of the future of work. In his view, “AI is going to make it very clear who the good leaders are. Bad leaders only focus on command and control. And technology will be able to do that more effectively. A good leader helps unlock the potential of people.”
Where to get started? We love the metaphor Jacob uses here:
“Build your vulnerability mountain.
What does this look like? “Identify what's at base camp for you and what's at the peak. Base camp is something that you could start doing tomorrow and the peak is something that's really scary, that's far away, that's going to take you some time to build up to. And once you understand what's at base camp and what's at the peak, then you can take gradual steps every day, every week, every month, to get from where you are to where you want to be.”
Grab your backpack and your trail mix, Human Leaders. Let the journey of leading with vulnerability begin!
Jacob Morgan is the best-selling author of 5 books including his most recent, Leading with Vulnerability: Unlock Your Greatest Superpower to Transform Yourself, Your Team, and Your Organization. He’s also a speaker and professionally trained futurist. You can learn more about Jacob at TheFutureOrganization.com or to get access to his content head to GreatLeadership.Substack.com.
