Leading with Vulnerability

22The Eight Attributes of Vulnerable Leaders

What makes up a vulnerable leader? At the beginning of the book I introduced eight attributes, five which comprise vulnerability and three which comprise leadership (see Figure 22.1):

• Self‐awareness: understanding your thoughts, behaviors, actions, and emotions and how they affect you and those around you
• Self‐compassion: being kind to yourself
• Empathy: seeing things from other people's perspectives
• Authenticity: being a single genuine version of yourself
• Integrity: being a moral and honest person with a clear set of personal values that guide how you behave
• Competence: being good at your job
• Self‐confidence: belief in yourself and that you have the ability to grow and succeed
• Motivation: the drive to take action and improve

Figure 22.1 Eight attributes of vulnerable leaders

All of these attributes are important and powerful on their own, but when you bring them together and become a vulnerable leader, their impact is considerably greater than the sum of the parts. Many of these attributes overlap in terms of what they enable you to do, and oftentimes one will enable you to better harness another.

Here's how Bill Rogers, the chairman and CEO of Truist, a 55,000‐person financial institution, frames this: “Self‐confidence is gained through self‐awareness, preparation, and reflection. Self‐awareness provides the confidence that ...