Rick Denley argues that leaders who say "I don't know" build trust faster. Vulnerability isn't weakness. It invites teams to solve problems together and accelerates the know-like-trust cycle that high-performing teams need.
Let's look at a characteristic that isn't often associated with leadership of the past but is needed in leadership of the future, and that would be vulnerability. Vulnerable leadership is having leaders be able to say, I'm not sure, or, I don't know the answer to that. Maybe we as a team can collectively come up with it. Leaders don't have to have all the answers right now. They have to be able to set clear objectives for the team. support them on them. Give them all the skills, tools, and knowledge necessary to get the job done. And there's nothing wrong with bringing some passion. But people relate to people that are authentic. And vulnerability is a very characteristic that really makes you connect with people and trust them better. Along the lines of know, like, and trust, we want to get to trust as fast as possible with teams. And with individuals to build a relationship, there's no better way to get to trust faster than to be vulnerable and say, you know what? I might not know that.
