“The best thing we can do with our teams is create a vulnerability based trust where we can be who we really are. We’re never as strong as when we’re ourselves.”

Gonto, contemporary unthinker.

One of the biggest misconceptions of new managers is that they think they need to come across as having strong personalities and no weaknesses.

What they don’t realize is that by doing that they alienate people:

  • When junior people see their managers as very strong, they might be scared to share their opinion
  • When senior people see their managers as strong on things that don’t make sense, they might think they’re an idiot and not say anything

I think the best thing we can do with our teams is create a vulnerability based trust where we can be who we really are. We’re never as strong as when we’re ourselves. By talking about my insecurities and weaknesses, my team can relate more to me and they can share their insecurities and weaknesses. Thanks to that, I can help them grow and be more successful and better managers in the future.

Furthermore, they’re more willing to share their ideas with me and we can together create something much much better.

My best piece of advice in this is don’t be afraid of being yourself. We all have the same issues, don’t feel bad about sharing them :). Acceptance makes you stronger!.