Vulnerable leadership: The best leadership

To show vulnerability is to be human; however, leaders often forget this. Sometimes overconfidence in a leader can cause a disconnect with employees, which is why vulnerability is so important.

A simple way to start to be more vulnerable is to admit when you aren’t sure of something. While this may seem unimportant, it shows people that you’re human.

“The simplest way that I think about vulnerability at work is leaders saying, ‘I don’t know’,” said Megan Dalla-Camina, founder and chief executive of Women Rising.

“I think back to my nearly 20 years in corporate, and I could count on probably two hands the amount of times that I would have heard a leader say, ‘I don’t know the answer to that question.’ And then collaboration, let’s go figure it out.”

According to the Voice of Women at Work 2023 report by Women Rising, just 10 per cent of women see vulnerability in their leaders.

“We have a long way to go in leaders not feeling like they need to be perfect, not feeling like they need to have all of the answers figured out to be seen as a good leader,” explained Ms Dalla-Camina.

“A leader that we can respect and look up to and want to follow and that we can have hard conversations, that we can lean into that emotional exposure that comes from saying, ‘I don’t know’. And what are the consequences of that? And we see this at all levels of leadership, not just at the most senior levels.”

There are a variety of benefits to showing vulnerability in leadership. A major effect is the development of relationships and trust, as employees see a more human side of their leader that they can connect with.

“Vulnerability is really the starting place for everything. You couldn’t imagine having an effective personal relationship, a connected personal relationship, without expressing vulnerability. The same thing transmits to our workplaces,” Ms Dalla-Camina said.

“If we want to really build trust and show empathy and have collaboration, we have to be able to be in that place where we’re just showing our humanness, which is what vulnerability is.”

Leaders can help build strong connections with staff by becoming more open and showing their personable side. Forbes listed 12 key benefits of vulnerability in leadership:

1. Makes you relatable
2. Drives trust
3. Demonstrates strength of character
4. Inspires creativity
5. Transforms you into a modern leader
6. Enables continued growth
7. Encourages psychological safety
8. Connects through authenticity
9. Enables shared ownership
10. Invites others to help
11. Builds stronger teams
12. Makes for great content

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Megan Dalla-Camina, click below: