Leading With Vulnerability - Answer The Call To Conscious Leadership

Vulnerability in leadership proved to be a very fruitful topic, and I thank our C3 community for selecting it as our March Answer the Call to Conscious Leader event topic. Senior Human Resources Leader, Vince Blando, and The Believe Coach, Nick Dillon, offered us invaluable insight from their personal experience as leaders who model vulnerability. If you didn’t make it live, catch the replay by joining the C3 community.

Here are the questions we answered in our hour-long discussion:

• How can you create other leaders who model vulnerability?
• How can you be a true vulnerable leader?
• Can you really be open to every opportunity without being open and vulnerable yourself?
• What does being vulnerable really require of leaders?
• What does vulnerability feel like when you don’t possess those qualities?
• How did our panelists develop those qualities?
• Why do you have to be willing to be vulnerable?
• What happens when a leader holds back?
• Are people born leaders?
• When does being vulnerable serve a leader well and when doesn’t it?
• What is it that you express to people that makes vulnerability an effective leadership tool?
• What is something we all need up-skilling in?
• How can a leader who admits being vulnerable inspire a team member to elevate performance?
• How does lacking vulnerability backfire?
• What is the major gap that keeps leaders from being effectively vulnerable?
• What do leaders need to do to welcome vulnerability?
• What is it about being a vulnerable leader that enables your team to show up as their best selves?
• What is the only way to be effective as a leader these days?
• What are perceptions of vulnerability that are now very outdated and need to go?
• What happens when you are a vulnerable performer working for a leader who does not model vulnerability?
• What happens if you grow weary of being available to your team members?
• Is it appropriate to show your team members that you feel their pain or should you detach?
• How has compartmentalizing pain and trauma been working?
• How have our panelists navigated modeling and normalizing vulnerability in the workplace?
• Why is now the time for us to go from aspirational to executable in being whole at work?
• How do we gain traction in the movement to normalize vulnerability and empathy?
• What are the consequences of not enabling empathy in the workplace?
• What are the hard business reasons companies need to go in this direction?
• What is the only true way to attain 360? leadership and be effective?
• Do people leave jobs or leaders?
• What happens when people practice the new brand of leadership in traditional business environments?
• Where can a leader start introducing vulnerability in traditional business environments?
• Where do EAPs fall short and how does a leader fill that gap?
• How has the lack of financial stability spurred a greater need for vulnerability in leadership?
• When your past has mistakes, what is the mindset to move forward from that as a vulnerable leader?
• What does the military teach around leadership and does it conflict or align with being a vulnerable leader?
• What is a major mistake that leaders make after having success in leadership that inhibits vulnerability?
• What is “contextual empathy”?
• What does a leader have to do to maintain psychological safety to continually nurture vulnerability?
• What are the landmines associated with being a vulnerable leader?

Recommended reading: Brené Brown, The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings on Authenticity, Connection and Courage.

Once in the C3 Community, make sure you engage – like, comment, further the conversation, invite panelists and other members to connect.

Potential future ATCCL topics this conversation spurred:

• Increasing access to resources and exposure to opportunity
• Contextual empathy

Are you an expert in any of these topics? Introduce yourself inside of the C3 community and maybe you’ll be a panelist!

Here are other upcoming opportunities to share the stage with your C3 co-hosts:

Are you on Clubhouse?

Every other Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. EST, including this week, March 9th, Lawrence and I will be going live on Clubhouse to further discuss topics related to conscious leadership and find out what content the conscious leadership community most demands.

>> Follow us both on Clubhouse - Karen: @ripplemaker and Lawrence: @bossllab

On Twitter?

I have returned to do Twitter chats. Join me Wednesday, March 10th at 11 AM EST to engage in Q&A around Conscious Leadership by following me @EpicCareering and the hashtag #ConsciousLeaderChat.

See you there!

Karen Huller is the creator of the Corporate Consciousness Ripple Blueprint and author of Laser-sharp Career Focus: Pinpoint your Purpose and Passion in 30 Days. She founded Epic Careering, a leadership and career development firm specializing in executive branding and conscious culture, in 2006. 

While the bulk of her 20 years of professional experience has been within the recruiting and employment industry, her publications, presentations, and coaching also draw from experience in personal development, performance, broadcasting, marketing, and sales. Her solutions incorporate breakthroughs in neuroscience, human performance optimization, bioenergetics, and psychology to help leaders accelerate rapport, expand influence, and elevate engagement and productivity while also looking out for the sustainability of the business and the planet.

Mrs. Huller was one of the first LinkedIn trainers and is known widely for her ability to identify and develop new trends. She is a Certified Professional Résumé Writer, Certified Career Transition Consultant, and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist with a Bachelor of Art in Communication Studies and Theater from Ursinus College and a minor in Creative Writing. Her blog was recognized as a top 100 career blog worldwide by Feedspot. 

She was an Adjunct Professor in Cabrini University's Communications Department and an Adjunct Professor of Career Management and Professional Development at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. As an instructor for the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, she has helped two of her students win the 2018 National Competition to be named America’s Next Top Young Entrepreneurs, to win the 2019 People’s Choice Award, and to land in the top 8 during the (virtual) 2020 National Competition.

She is board secretary for the Upper Merion Community Center and just finished serving as Vice President of the Gulph Elementary PTC, for which she received recognition as a Public Education Partner and Promoter from the Upper Merion Area Education Association. She lives in King of Prussia with her husband, two daughters, and many pets, furry, feathered, and scaly.