Strength Through Vulnerable Leadership

1000’s of hours of coaching executives, 1 uncomfortable truth.

 

The most powerful leadership skill that makes most executives deeply uncomfortable: admitting when they are wrong, uncertain, or need help, and admitting vulnerable leadership.

 

 Yet the leaders who master vulnerable leadership are transforming their organisations.

 

In our executive briefing Insight ‘Wise and Responsive Leaders’, Wise and Responsive Leaders we explored how vulnerability becomes strength.

 

Here’s what 1000s of hours coaching cross-sector leaders revealed:

 

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡–𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬:

The best leaders choose 3-5 people who won’t sugarcoat feedback: board members, peers, even competitors.

They explicitly ask: “What am I missing?” and “Where might I be wrong?”

The result: Real feedback prevents mistakes that yes-people would miss.

 

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬:

They block weekly thinking time to examine their failures.

One CEO told researchers: “I have worked on myself to ignore the sense of failure if we don’t succeed as a business. I won’t feel diminished as a person or professional.”

The result: Catch unhelpful habits before they derail teams or projects.

 

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬:

As one leader shared: “I admit when I don’t understand.”

When projects fail: “I missed the warning signs. Here’s what I learned.”

Teams stop hiding problems.

People experiment freely.

Innovation thrives because nobody wastes energy covering mistakes.

 

What’s the 1 shift that you have been avoiding?

 

This article was originally posted here