To Share or Not to Share

Leaders face a conundrum: Do I share my personal struggles, or stick to my successes? They want to come across strong, but they sometimes misunderstand the relationship between the perceived threat of vulnerability and the strength that results from actually humbling yourself. Check out Dean’s latest post to hear how he recommends threading that needle.

For more Leadership Presentation Support, click here.

leaders want to come across strong but they also want to come across human so the conundrum becomes to share or not to share and I’m going to say share what leaders want to do when they share a story is pull their team members but they often question is this too personal is this too sensitive does this make me look weak they want to come across bold and strong and together as a leader and curiously the solution often comes in being humble sharing your vulnerabilities and letting them know how you have struggled I saw a leader present years ago and I think he sort of knew that you needed to share something you needed to to talk about struggles and what he picked was this trip he had been and uh getting ready to road trip on to an expensive Resort in his brand new Porsche and he talked about how greatest Porsche was and lightning struck a tree and lo and behold it landed on his Porsche and of course sound like Insurance wasn’t going to come for it and nobody empathized with him for his problem with his Porsche his presentation did share some struggle but all it really did is stratify the group more it alienated people and a lot of his staff members could not afford a Porsche and it did not bring his people closer it did not make people want to follow him the other speaker I’m thinking of shared also a motor story he had rented a car at the end of a long business Journey where his wife had come along and and supported him and and he wanted to do something calm and relaxing on the last day and he rented a car and he found a trip to the top where there’s of a mountain with some Summit View turns out it’s an off-road track it’s it’s not for regular cars and it’s one of those uh roads where once you go you have to go all the way through you can’t turn around there’s no going back you have to go forward and down the other side and he gets partway on the road and all the other cars around him are are Jeeps they’re jacked up Vehicles people have helmets on and gloves and dust masks and here he is dressed in a polo shirt with a little picnic basket and a bottle of wine and his wife who was terrified they white knuckled it through water and and difficult rocks and boy they barely made it in their rental car and his story humbled him he he talked about the mistakes he had made the lack of research he had done how he missed this huge overwhelming uh point that this was not for regular vehicles and how opposite it was from his intention however he talked about how it drove him forward and how he rose to the challenge and had the tenacity to stick with the journey till he got to the summit and it actually made a beautiful business point in the process of sharing that he makes mistakes and the wrong choice without the right research can lead to really difficult results but if you stick to it you can get to the top and there’s a beautiful view up there it was so much more powerful and at first he wasn’t sure if he should share that story and yes that’s a great story to share there’s a lots of lots of personal stories that you can share that show your struggles and in the process of doing that you can make a business Point relate to your audience’s struggle share of yourself and tell a great story and if your story aligns with the business Point you’re trying to make in a particular speech yes you should Make Yourself Strong by sharing the struggles the bad decisions the missteps that you’ve made getting there and you’re going to leverage your vulnerability and come across very strongly

Comments are closed.