This is a repost and update of one of my earliest posts on this site, “Presence…and Vulnerability“. Why a repost?
My current musing is on Romance, Beauty and business. Yesterday’s post, inspired by the “Business Romantic”, Tim Leberecht, had me think about being human and building a business around that, and I finished yesterday with:
“Business can be beautiful when it embraces what it means to be human. Appreciate beauty for beauty’s sake, be vulnerable, open, intimate, curious, authentic. Such qualities in humans are beautiful at a deep level, as they are with a business.”
Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk is my favourite TED talk of all time. Every time I watch it I well up with tears towards the end. Why? Simple, such humanity is truly beautiful.
As Bob Marley also notes above, vulnerability is essential if we are to take true pleasure in life. Oh, and it also risks it all too, so vulnerability is indeed brave and a gift to ourselves and others.
Be Human.
So, to the repost. Please now consider all of it through the lens of beauty and humanity. Oh, and since writing this, my thoughts around #OpenLeadership and #Unthinkable have kept growing and evolving, and I am excited to now be researching and interviewing leaders around the world in preparation for writing my first book.
One of my favourite TED talks of all time is this one from Amy Cuddy, entitled: “Your body language may shape who you are”.
I recalled this as I was going to write about the power of self-awareness of the body, hormonal responses (testosterone, cortisol) and the power of the body for presence.
Yes, this talk is amazing for that, so please do watch it all from the link in the image above.
That said, I won’t be writing about all of that today. Instead, as I watched the talk again in preparation for writing this, once again by far the most powerful part of the talk was when Amy Cuddy told us WHY this was so important to her. Every single time I watch this segment of the talk, I am moved to tears. Every. Single. Time.
Yes, watch the whole talk, but please watch the segment starting at 15:39
I believe strongly that the new paradigm of #OpenLeadership has Vulnerability as a core foundational attribute. As Amy tells her very personal story of feeling like an imposter, she then transforms that experience into leadership, power, creativity.
I share here the first nascent iteration of the #OpenLeadership model. For more, see the series of articles posted to Linked In called Unthinkable.
No longer will leaders serve their people and their vision by seeking to be all knowing, all powerful and invulnerable. To the contrary, knowing our fears, having that self-knowledge, ability to manage our energy (and those of others), being response-able rather than reactive in moments of stress and crisis… these and more are attributes of #OpenLeadership… and from these “Let Go” attributes, leaders can then attract their people to them and realise their highest potential through humbly collaborating while being the “keeper of the vision”.
Much more on these themes in future articles, but for now, marvel at the vulnerable presence of Ms Amy Cuddy!