The Strongest Leaders Are Brave Enough to Admit Weakness

It’s 2016. The Mad Men era has long since passed. So I’m here to tell you: get over yourself.

Gone are the days when leaders are expected to never, ever show weakness or vulnerability for fear of causing their employees to doubt or question them. This kind of mentality isn’t just archaic–it’s absolute nonsense.

Don’t get me wrong. As a leader, you must be strong and resilient, especially during challenging times. But that doesn’t mean at the right time, in the right forum, in the right way, you can’t admit your vulnerabilities–even, dare I say it–your weaknesses and blind spots.

Let’s be real for a moment. Do you honestly think for even a second that your employees believe you never feel weak, down or uncertain? Of course not. They know you’re a human being, and that means you are, by definition, not perfect. So if you pretend to have all the answers and absolute strength 100 percent of the time, your peers probably discount that by at least 45 percent to be on the safe side. However, if you’re actually honest about the 10 percent of the time you screw things up, then you’ll be much more likely to get buy-in that you know what you’re doing the other 90 percent of the time.

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