Christopher Stitt, CEO, CrisisLead discusses why security leaders can find their greatest strength in opening up.
In the security profession, the concept of vulnerability is pretty straightforward.
A simple review of the definition of “vulnerability” in industry standards for either physical or cybersecurity reveals the following:
A major goal of the security profession is to identify vulnerabilities and eliminate or mitigate them.
This is ingrained from our earliest days of training and is reiterated throughout our careers.
But in a leadership context…
In this context, it would appear at first glance that the concept of vulnerability is still something to be avoided, eliminated or mitigated:
However, as Brenee Brown in her book, Atlas of the Heart, writes: “Vulnerability is not a weakness, it is our greatest measure of courage.”
Simon Sinek, one of this generation’s top thought leaders on leadership is quoted as saying: “A leader, first and foremost is human.
Only when we have the strength to show our vulnerability can we truly lead.”
These statements are rooted in the concept of “emotional intelligence.”
As highlighted in an article by Janice Omadeke in Harvard Business Review, “Vulnerability in leaders – of all genders – has not just grown culturally acceptable, but in many cases, it’s welcomed and encouraged.”
This is just one of the articles on the topic of the utility of vulnerability in leadership in just the Leadership and Managing People archives of Harvard Business Review.
Hundreds more are included in other publications.
Beyond the articles, there are thousands of websites, consultancies and training programs built around incorporating emotional intelligence generally and vulnerability specifically into team and executive leadership.
In executive leadership, the concept of leaders allowing themselves to be vulnerable is not only common and accepted, it is also encouraged.
It is encouraged because it leads to increased performance.
So, how does vulnerability lead to high-performing teams? First, vulnerability leads to authenticity. Consistent authenticity increases trust.
Multiple studies of high-performing teams have found that trust is the key to leading high-performing teams.
It must be understood that trust is a delicate platform that can waver or even break if it is undermined.
But, when stabilized, trust becomes the platform for high-performing teams.
As explained by Brenda Stanton in her review of Dave Logan’s concept of Tribal leadership, “When employees feel a leader “gets them” and connects with them, they are more apt to trust this leader and want to emulate his or her habits and behaviors.
When leaders are trusted, they can inspire individuals and their tribes to rise to new levels.”
So, what needs to occur for employees to feel that their leader “gets them?”
The leader needs to show alignment with their team, to share their own experiences, challenges they have faced and struggles they have endured. They need to show vulnerability.
Yet, only six articles in the Security Management Magazine archives discuss vulnerability from this perspective.
All of these are about managing organizations and all but one date from 2020-2022.
It is interesting to note that the time period of these articles was during the COVID pandemic, when there was a sudden shift to focus on personal resilience during those disruptive times.
Other authors include Alexandra Hoffman, who wrote about trust as the foundation for effective communication and Jim Jenkins, who wrote about succeeding in the shift from individual contributor to manager roles.
The only article highlighting the importance of vulnerability as a useful tool for leadership that falls outside the COVID era is by Sarah Powell. Her article from 2019 is about managing team wellness.
Beyond the articles, a search of emotional intelligence training for security personnel and specifically training incorporating the importance of vulnerability in emotional intelligence returned almost nothing.
So we are faced with a paradox in security leadership: are vulnerabilities bad, or good? The answer is both.
As security leaders, we need to promote both concepts. In short, we need to close the door on security vulnerabilities, but keep the door open on leading with vulnerability.
Building better teams and a stronger next generation.
We need to start incorporating an understanding of the paradox of vulnerability into executive education for security leaders.
Leaders who understand and embrace the paradox of vulnerability build better teams and run better programs, ultimately improving the security industry.
We also need to introduce this paradox into the training cycle for new security employees.
This will highlight it for the next generation of managers so they can also become the next generation of leaders.
Finally, we need to understand the context in which the security team operates.
If the rest of the organization, particularly the C-suite, expects an emotionally intelligent workforce and leadership cadre, incorporating the use of vulnerability into this expectation, security leaders need to find ways to embrace it.
This can only be done through a mindset change grounded in training and education. And this training and education needs to incorporate the courage and vulnerability to share lessons learned. Embrace the paradox.
This article was originally published in the September edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.