I’m a sports lover and in particular, basketball and soccer. Fortunately my son loves soccer and has played since age 3. He’s not built like a soccer player now standing 6’3”, but he has an amazing foot, knows how to pass and recently has become a pretty good header. He played a lot of big games the last year of high school and sadly the school didn’t make it past the regionals but the team put up an amazing fight and the best part was my son scored a hat-trick! He got all 3 goals in the first 15 minutes of a semi-final game which sadly ended with a 3-4 loss. It was surprising and exhilarating all at once.
We celebrated but of course were sad about the loss. It was bittersweet. But that wasn’t the best part of the season. The best part by far was the coach and how he operated with the team every day. It was something to watch.
In a short speech at the last game, coach summarized in one word: Vulnerability. He said:
“Vulnerability is a strength and it’s probably one of the greatest strengths as human beings.
I appreciate that you embrace that. It will take you far in life”.
Unfortunately this trait is more often associated with weakness and many of us shield our vulnerabilities, which of course are everyone’s reality. Sharing what we’re good at is just as important as sharing what we’re not so good at. Being open about where we need to improve or how to find a path through a major obstacle is human. By avoiding or hiding our vulnerabilities, we become even more vulnerable and risk facing the real issues in front of us.
This got me thinking about the importance of this trait and how learning it at a young age is invaluable. Why is it hard for adults to be vulnerable when managing a team? As a leader, is this a trait we should lean on more and why?
What does it mean to be vulnerable?
Vulnerability shouldn’t be confused with transparency, although they’re closely related. I’ve experienced situations as a leader where you need to open up and ask the hard questions or lean on the team to express concerns and talk through them even to get on the same page. Being transparent and open is a way to get aligned. It helps define where you need to focus and how you’re going to execute, together. But you need to align on the right aspects and know exactly where your soft underbelly lies.
I recall a Google earnings review on the topic of ChatGPT AI and its threat. There’s no question that OpenAI is one of the most talked-about companies in software today. We’re only scratching the surface on future AI possibilities. This Reid Hoffman and Sam Altman interview shows just a glimpse, when Altman shared thoughts on its use in healthcare and education. Bravo! We should all welcome innovation for those industries.
My point about Google’s response is the recognition of AI and ChatGPT’s presence. As a massive public entity with deep pockets and access to all information, it will take a lot to shake its very foundation, but it’s vulnerable nonetheless. I’ve no doubt internal conversations have a very different tone compared to this earnings call but the fact that founders Sergey Brin and Larry Paige are involved tells you Google is taking this seriously.
Vulnerability Starts with Self-awareness
Being aware of where you’re vulnerable is an excellent start. Then expressing and embracing it is the next natural step. How you tackle it together as one team is really where the energy goes in order to get everyone behind the strategy and plan to execute and start to turn the corner.
Embrace the Unknown
Brene Brown, one of my favorite author’s on this subject, gave a very popular TED talk (19M views) back in 2010 where she explains from years of research, how she discovered that people who express courage, compassion and connection also show vulnerability. Brown admits that she herself struggled with the power of vulnerability because her natural tendency was to control and predict the future. She confesses her desire is to research messy topics and then put them into a bento box 😉 We all know that life doesn’t work that way.
Google followed after their earnings call with an announcement to publicly release their own version of a Chatbot called Bard and claim that their goal is to make it safe and be more accurate. Of course they’re on top of it.
Command and Control Isn’t the Answer
As leaders, our natural tendency is to stay in control and in fact most of us believe, or have been trained to behave as if we have all the answers. First, it’s not possible to have the answer to everything and second, you can’t be in control all the time. When you accept that there are many unknowns ahead of you and that you will be ready to embrace and manage through them, you feel much more empowered and in fact more confident. Getting the entire team behind this mindset is no easy task but it’s invaluable. Just like my son’s soccer team where I witnessed a change in every single player during just one season alone. It really did come down to the entire team embracing their vulnerabilities.
Brown talks a lot about shame in her research and the truth is there’s no shame in not knowing the answer to a question. As resourceful humans we figure things out. We learn from each other. ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are exciting innovations that have been years in the making. I’m pretty sure there were lots of failures along the way and lots of vulnerabilities shared. No doubt there’s many more ahead on this path to artificial intelligence. After all it’s the vulnerable humans that are making AI a reality.