Let’s Let Our Guards Down. You Go First.
Modelling truth telling as a leader requires some vulnerability.
It requires that you go first, that you do the uncomfortable thing publicly. It means you have to talk about the things you don’t know or that you don’t feel completely prepared for.
Our society, and really this comes down to white supremacy culture, tells us that to lead is to master: the idea is that the best and most equipped among us rise to the top and keep the rest of us in our place.
So first of all, if you have risen to the top, how exhausting is it to keep up that facade?
And if you are someone who is looking to a leader to understand your perspective, do you imagine that this remote icon of perfection gets it?
So let’s tell the truth:
We are all figuring it out, none of us know the answer. We each have a perspective that matters but we are unsure and doubtfilled and trying our best to figure it out.
And the best way to do that, my friends, is together.
So tell the truth: about the places where you feel limited, where you don’t feel like you are at your best. How great would it be if we could support each other and do better together, so we all felt more equipped?
It would probably be pretty great.
And that’s the truth.