Leaders Balance Vulnerability with Confidence
One of the leadership blogs to which I subscribe is “The Management Tip of the Day” from the Harvard Business Review. One of their posts from last week reminded me of an important attribute of leaders, balancing vulnerability and confidence.
In this piece, adapted from “How to Build Confidence about Human Vulnerability” by Dan Cable, the HBR authors reminded readers that empathy and confidence do not have to be mutually exclusive. They can exist simultaneously. In leadership coaching, we call this a polarity.
As Dan writes, leaders can strike a healthy balance so their team members know that it’s acceptable to make mistakes and also have faith in their abilities. He advocates several tips to create a culture that achieves this proper balance:
-Use language with yourself and others that reinforces that failure is normal -Model that failure is actually a necessary step to success -Share stories of missteps and explain how they helped you in your journey -Realize that when you reveal moments of weakness, your team ultimately perceives you as a stronger leader -Do not suffer from arrogance and admit that you, like anyone, are capable of lapses in judgment -Demonstrate that you’re open to other people’s ideas when it comes to solving ethical issues
One of the most significant lapses in judgment I ever showed during my career at Georgetown Law was when we invited and confirmed the first ambassador to the United States from China to serve as a keynote speaker at our Corporate Counsel Institute. It was to be his first address at a law school in this country. I was very proud and excited about this speaker recruitment coup.
As was often the case, we were in a hurry to complete our brochure. Like my other team members, I proofread the draft of the brochure and put in the ambassador‘s name and country. I made the mistake of relying on my memory. We printed 60,000 brochures for mailing across the United States. When the brochures had been printed and were ready to be mailed, I discovered that rather than using the proper name for China, I had used the name for Taiwan- the People’s Republic of China. I was frantic. I was angry with myself. I was afraid to tell the Dean. . But I knew I had to do the right thing. I called our printer, acknowledged my mistake and told them to re-print the 60,000 brochures with the correct country name – at a huge expense.
I shared my error with everyone on my team and used this episode as a tool to teach them about the value of double-checking country names AND about the importance of acknowledging our mistakes. This showing of vulnerability on my part, I later learned, earned me tremendous support and loyalty from my teammates.
So as you continue on your leadership paths, always remember that confidence and vulnerability are not opposites. Use them simultaneously.
If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!
-Larry