Decisive and Vulnerable
Successful leaders are both decisive and vulnerable.
Leadership requires making decisions – making choices – for the company or any organization you lead. In my new book, Create the Future, I also explore vulnerability as an essential requirement of successful leadership.
How many times have we seen leaders certain they understand the issue before them and know the right go forward next step. I have felt that way myself. Particularly early on, when we are faced with a great opportunity or a major threat, we usually do not have a complete understanding of the issues and dynamics driving the challenge we face.
I am certain you have made decisions quickly and later wished you had better understood the choices you had.
I make better choices for my organization when I take down my shield of invincibility and infallibility. I usually do not fully understand what is driving the opportunity I imagine. My assumptions about what will happen might be wrong. My confidence in our capability to execute on the initiative I am about to announce might be wrong. My initial sense of where we should go may be wrong.
Leadership vulnerability includes being open to hearing and understanding different points of view and learning from the experiences of others. Vulnerability is acknowledging that you might be wrong. Ask questions. Don’t dismiss ideas and points of view different than yours. Seek out all available information, opinions, and perspectives. Opening yourself to new information and other points of view is fundamental to smart decision-making.
What you know and believe is certainly valuable. And yes, you will never have perfect information. You must make the best decisions you can with what you have. But take down your shield — make yourself vulnerable. You will be a stronger leader and a more successful leader.
Strength and Vulnerability Surround Us
Flowers and their blossoms are a beautiful example of strength and vulnerability. Perennial plants blossom in the spring. Their delicate flowers bloom, pollinate during the summer, and die in the fall and winter. The strong bulbs survive through the winter and re-grow the beautiful flowers that bring us joy the following season. The flowers survive because the strong bulbs grow the vulnerable blossoms that bring them nourishment.
