The Seven Powers of Weakness
The worst leaders never admit weakness. They:
- Lie to preserve face.
- Live in fear of being found out.
- Lose themselves.
The best leaders understand the secret power of weakness.
Love, compassion, and loyalty:
I’ve had many leaders share their struggles with me. I love them for it. I’ve seen many leaders hide their faults. I stop trusting them.
Every super-hero has a weakness. We connect with them through their struggle.
Vulnerability – exposing weakness – is an invitation.
What happens when you point out a teammate’s weakness and they acknowledge it?
It takes real strength to acknowledge weakness.
Bad weakness:
Weakness is pathetic when it:
- Turns into self-loathing and self-pity. There’s no place for woe-is-me in leadership.
- Cries out for sympathy.
- Excuses lack of effort or failure. Weakness is a reality not an excuse.
- Vindicates and accepts second-rate.
- Expresses apathy.
Seven powers of weakness:
Acknowledging weakness:
- Allows you to celebrate the strength of others. Lousy leaders always outshine others.
- Opens your ears to input and feedback.
- Makes you approachable.
- Protects you from over confidence.
- Enhances your humanity and invites connections. Leading is connecting.
- Enables empathy. Leaders who can’t acknowledge their own frailties don’t want to hear yours either. Isolation sets in.
- Opens the door for growth.
Bonus: Successful leaders give power to others. Empower others by acknowledging your weakness.
How to be weak without being a loser:
- Make progress. Losers play dead.
- Reject embarrassment. Vulnerability feels uncomfortable, but never apologize for a weakness.
- Connect with those who compensate for your weakness. Leaders who pretend they don’t have weakness neglect the strength of others.
- Honor your strengths. Know what you do well and play on that field as much as possible.
How can leaders acknowledge weakness in useful ways?
How can leaders navigate the dangers of acknowledging weakness?
Love this line: “Vulnerability – exposing weakness – is an invitation”. I’m posting that internally and externally today and using it in my Community mtg this week. Consider yourself plagiarized.
Thanks James,
It’s such an encouragement to be useful to you. 🙂
Lots to be said for keeping it real!
Great stuff Dan!
Here is something I hope all of you take 7 minutes to experience.
Made me well up and feel all warm inside! It takes a lot for me top well up! Just more logical than emotional but this got me right in the heart!
Man life is so great!
http://bit.ly/17b5e2z
I Concur!
SP back to gratitude in now!
Thanks Scott!
Unless a leader possesses all the skills required to run a company and execute their business plan, which is obviously not possible, we all need to deal with our weaknesses. The people around you do not expect you to be perfect, so don’t kill yourself trying.
Thanks Josh,
“All” the skills… 🙂 … Frankly, I prefer strength to weakness. But, I must acknowledge that I don’t have “all” the skills.
Dear Dan,
Weak leaders hide their weakness. They perceive their weakness as their strength. And in order to hide their weakness, they start creating space with others. And this space becomes their shield to protect their position in the organizations. Organizations with many weak leaders hinder development of talents and discourages transparency and information. Such practices flourish when superiors support and protect them.
In the organizations, such practices can be overcome by introducing strong reward system that encourages acceptance, willingness to learn and honesty. Such system should create a culture where people feel proud in accepting their mistakes. Other way is to bring strong performance measurement system with tough deadlines. This will expose outliers and manipulators. They will have no choice than to work.
People hide their weakness because of their personal attributes or organizational attribute. But, good system and culture in place can replace such practices of hiding weakness. One example could be celebrating the weakness or faults.
I really like “3.Connect with those who compensate for your weakness.” Not only does it allow a leader to negate their own weakness, but shows honor and respect to others who have it as a strength.
This is great, I wish that we could send this to our president.
The ability to properly approach “weakness” is indeed a great leadership strength.
Dan,
Good morning from CT! Awesome post! I’m going for a job interview today and I know this will be one of the questions.
This topic recently came up because I volunteer as an EMT on the side, so to speak, and have found when patients are upset, especially when the police are involved, things go a lot smoother by dishing your own dirt. It’s hard and yes you may not like it because your coworkers (and sometimes the police) are around to hear what you are choosing to share but people’s attitudes change very quickly when you share your weaknesses and troubles.
Answering this question is very difficult. I know one weakness having the business has help me to overcome is walking into a room of “powerful” people and talking to them as well as telling people in “power” what I really think. You don’t like me or what I have to say, too bad.
Have an awesome day!
Angela
Acknowledging you have a weakness as a leader makes you aware that you are also human. In return that makes it easier for you to be tolerant with your staff and other team members.
Besides: nobody wants to work with a GOD… Lol!
Josh Dykstra (Strengthscope) talks of ‘flattening the funnel’ in organizations, which changes the dynamics of how we communicate and who we choose to listen to. Vulnerability, particularly around our weaknesses, creates a third dimension to our leadership. It may be the most important dimension in creating relationship, and from that relationship influence. It takes courage to acknowledge and own all of who we are, but then again, most people who work for us already know.
Best…Jim
how do i make progress?
I really appreciated reading this! Thank you for the advice!