The following excerpt is from my book, “Face to Face: A Leadership Guide for Healthcare Professionals and Entrepreneurs.” This excerpt speaks above rising above your fear.
As Parker Palmer states, it is through our vulnerability to doubt, despair, and feel pain that we are able to experience the joys of faith, hope, and love. Imagine how shallow life would be if we were unwilling to accept the risk inherent in our vulnerability and therefore denied these joys.
I would venture to say that most people see vulnerability as a weakness, however, in the realm of leadership, it is an essential strength. In my humble opinion, aspiring leaders who reject vulnerability will never fully achieve the strength or depth of their leadership potential.
Take, for example, the issue of trust. Most leadership experts view trust as one of the most critical factors in the leader-follower relationship. But trusting others can be potentially harmful, particularly if it proves to be unwarranted.
Those of us that have been emotionally harmed by a breach of our trust feel violated. Our natural tendency is to retreat within our emotional selves and never trust again. Intuitively, we know that this is a bad decision, and yet the pain can be overpowering. We are confronted with a significant contradiction between our perceived need to trust and our fear of trust. The answer lies in our belief that never to trust again would be to deny ourselves and our followers the many meaningful experiences that trust can provide.
Rising above our fear of vulnerability is a necessary step to becoming the very best leader we can be. In the final analysis, we are willing to accept vulnerability in spite of the potential harm because we value its positive aspects more than we fear the potential negative.
Face to Face leadership is unique to small organizations. It is emotional and personal as well as being powerful and transformational. Learning to find your voice and how to bring who you are to what you do will forever change the way you lead.
I wrote this book, which has been called a “must-read” leadership guide for health care professionals & entrepreneurs, to help others become a GREAT leader in their organizations and communities!