Vulnerable leadership: combining emotional openness with decisive action

Executive overview

Most leaders understand vulnerability matters, but show it without connecting it to leadership — making it land as weakness or instability. The fix is a simple equation: vulnerability + leadership = vulnerable leadership. Vulnerability is the connection piece; leadership is the competence piece. You cannot substitute one for the other.

Emotional exposure without a forward-looking action step is vulnerability. Emotional exposure with one is leading with vulnerability.

The core distinction: being vulnerable vs. leading with vulnerability

• Being vulnerable: admitting a mistake, saying "I don't know", showing emotion, asking for help.
• Leading with vulnerability: doing all of the above, then adding what you learned, what you will do differently, or what action you are taking next.
• Example — admitting a mistake: don't just say "I screwed up." Say "I made this mistake, here is what I learned, and here is what I will do to prevent it recurring."
• Example — asking for help: don't just say "I have no idea how to do this." Say "Can you help me, and here is what I have done/enrolled in to make sure I can handle this independently going forward."
• Vulnerability used without the leadership piece becomes a crutch that justifies poor performance.

Two CEO contrasts that define the difference

• Hollis Harris, CEO of struggling Continental Airlines (1991): sent a memo telling employees the company was in trouble, he did not know what to do, and asked them to pray. Vulnerable, but no leadership — employees lost confidence.
• Fleetwood Grobbler, CEO of Sasol (South African energy, ~$13B in debt): told his 32,000 employees he had a vision, believed in the team, did not yet know every step, and invited them to work through it together. Same difficult situation, opposite result — vulnerability plus a forward direction.
• The leadership piece is the action you commit to taking in order to improve the situation.

Intention: the center of the vulnerability wheel

• Before sharing anything personal, know why you are sharing it.
• Jacob Morgan's vulnerability wheel has five elements; intention sits at the center.
• CEOs who shared very personal things (a divorce, a child with a rare genetic disorder) always had a deliberate reason: building trust, showing they are human, closing the gap between their title and their team.
• They did not "vent" to employees — they shared deliberately to achieve a leadership outcome.
• Ask before sharing: "What is the reason I am doing this, and what is the leadership component?"
• If you cannot answer that, do not share it at work — share it in your personal life or with a therapist.

Implicit vs. explicit vulnerability in leadership

• Employees are explicitly dependent on their leader — leaders can demote, reassign, or make life difficult.
• Leaders are implicitly dependent on their team — poor team performance reflects directly on the leader.
• The second dependency is rarely spoken aloud. Leaders who ascend the hierarchy tend to assume that trust must flow up to them, not down from them.
• Leading with vulnerability names the implicit dependency out loud: "I cannot do this without you."
• This levels the seesaw: employees move from subordinate to near-equal, which unlocks candid ideas, honest struggles, and genuine collaboration.

What vulnerable leadership is not

• Not a therapy session — work is a different dynamic from personal life; do not use employees as your emotional outlet.
• Not a sudden personality reversal — a hard-nosed leader who plays "Wind Beneath My Wings" one day after months of tough behavior will read as a breakdown, not authenticity.
• Not self-disclosure for its own sake — the vulnerability wheel requires intention, not impulsive venting.
• Authenticity matters: employees can tell the difference between genuine openness and a scripted moment of manufactured warmth.

Why the stakes are high for leaders specifically

• An employee who says "I don't know what to do" gets offered coffee and support.
• A CEO who says the same thing in front of the workforce gets asked why they are in the role.
• Leaders face a dual expectation: be competent and confident, and be human and open about struggle. These feel opposing, but are not — the leadership piece resolves the tension.
• Organizations where leaders regularly display vulnerability are 4.5x more likely to foster an inclusive culture, 2x more likely to operate well in ambiguous environments, and 2.5x more likely to manage a remote workforce effectively.

The mindset shift: vulnerability is a superpower, not weakness

• Jacob Morgan grew up in a household shaped by former USSR persecution — emotions were not shared, strength meant silence.
• Signing the book contract triggered panic attacks: his body's response to committing to write about something he had suppressed his entire life.
• The realization: life will eventually make you vulnerable — a layoff, illness, a family crisis. The question is whether you have built the tools to handle it.
• Treating vulnerability as weakness means you accumulate it without release; the panic attacks were the result.
• Reframe: if vulnerability is inevitable, learning to lead with it is self-protection, not exposure.
• Leaders who can do this can lead any team, any company, through any environment.