This is a great challenge in a recent article from McKinsey & Company on ‘How leaders can tap the power of vulnerability’.

Is ‘who we are being’ more important than what we are doing?

This reminds me of a course I used to run for GE. It was cross-functional and cross-cultural, and provided a precious opportunity to help leaders to re-connect with themselves. It was so powerful to see how, when you realise that you can operate from your authentic self, it releases much more energy and potential.

We can hold a lot of clutter in our heads, about how we think we should be, what we think we should do, how we think people see us. I learned too from those leaders, and realised that all that is a waste of energy. Imagine how much clearer you can be if you invest all your brain and gut power (I’m learning about how the gut and brain work together) in being real rather than wearing a mask and carrying self-doubt.

A large part of this process involves asking questions – searching and personal questions, such as:

• ‘What kind of leader do you want to be?’
• ‘Who are you actually being?’ and
• ‘How do you feel about that?’

In the article Dana Maor , Hans-Werner Kaas, Kurt Strovink, and Ramesh Srinivasan distinguish the challenge of balancing the tough, results-oriented leader with the human leader: ‘Showing vulnerability can build connections and trust.’

The HR leader of today has to be both. Whatever your level in HR, there are times when you’re called upon to manage a situation where someone is sick, bereaved or failing.

A few minutes later, you can be in a leadership meeting debating the sales numbers and fighting for the budget for an investment in a people initiative that will build the strength of your organisation’s culture and ability to retain talent.

This can be a tough balance to achieve, and this is why we’ve launched a webinar series to help CPOs, CHROs and HRDs to build their own strength and stature. I’ll be joined by 4xCHRO Asad Husain and CPO Rupert Brown for some honest discussions. Register your interest in this series and we’ll keep you up to date with this series of webinars.

Our first webinar was ‘As CPO, how do I lead through complexity and manage my anxiety?‘, which took place on Monday 2nd December. The webinar recording can be accessed here.

A question for you to ask yourself today at different moments – ‘Who am I being right now?’