New age Leadership – Being authentic and vulnerable

Let us begin with dictionary meanings of two words.

Vulnerable – A person who is weak and without protection, with the result that He/she is easily hurt physically or emotionally.

Vulnerability – A state of being when a person is exposed to danger.

In the context of work, “vulnerability” has a historically bad reputation. For some, the word alone evokes caricatures of bleeding hearts or dramatic outpourings of affection.

Until very recently leadership was all about bravery and courage. Leaders were supposed to be superhumans who did not fear anything and were infallible.

Modern day leadership is, however, different. Today’s leaders need not be superhumans, they just can be humans albeit authentic human beings.

When do leaders feel vulnerable?

A leader is supposed to influence people to get the work done. To do this, a leader is supposed to take decisions, delegate work to people and do daring acts. The organization needs to provide authority to decide, resources for the task and clarity about what needs to be done.

The real world, however, is different. A leader does not have adequate resources. The human resources are also not fully committed or skilled. The business environment also is unstable and volatile.

The leaders feel most vulnerable while doing the following:

• Decision making – What if I go wrong?
• Delegation – What if they go wrong?
• Daring – What if we all go wrong?

Leaders but not Superheroes

No single person has a fool proof recipe to solve the complex issues and crises that we face. Also, to give the best of themselves, employees want to feel respected, listened to, and inspired - not like cogs in a soulless machine. They want to be seen, understood, and valued for who they are as individuals. And they want leaders who are human, too, not distant demigods they can’t connect with.

Today’s business leaders need to be great human leaders.

 How to Be Vulnerable at Work

Vulnerability is a skill. The point of being vulnerable is sharing the authentic parts of yourself that you may have otherwise chosen to hide or keep private. We have to learn to do it intentionally.

We can learn to be vulnerability by doing the following:

• Self-awareness – Ask - Will being honest in this moment serve me? Will it serve others?
• Share but do not overshare - A leader with boundaries may disclose that he/she is having a hard day due to some personal issues. There is no need to share details.
• Do the difficult thing - Vulnerability isn’t just about sharing your struggles, it’s also about standing up for your values and beliefs, publicly and privately.

In recent years, vulnerability in leaders of all genders has not just grown culturally acceptable, but in many cases, it’s welcomed and encouraged.

Those willing to practice vulnerability on a deeper, personal level, and adopt it as a principle, are those who will be credited with building a more equitable and innovative world of work a world that the next generations want to see.

 You can reach me at charanjit@impactconsultants.co.in for any leadership development initiative.

Kindly share your views, opinions, and experiences on the subject.

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