Welcome to this week's episode of the Modern Mentor Podcast.

I'm your host, Rachel Cook.

And today we're going to be talking about one of the most underrated superpowers you can harness at work.

Vulnerability.

Last year, I got a call from Alex, a leader in a consumer products business.

He was preparing to make a pretty big change in his organization. New roles, reporting lines, products, a pretty

big deal. We've done a lot of change in the past, he told me. Our analysis is always spot on.

Our products and structures are right. but something always falls apart. We lose

productivity, we lose talent, and we lose steam. He was looking for a different outcome this time.

Luckily, that is just my jam. He showed me his change plan, chalk full of cells, lines, and boxes.

He had thought it all through,

just as he had done every time before. Great, I said. Now tell me about what you don't know.

What anxieties, questions, and concerns do you have? And what does your team have to say about

all that? He stared blankly. Then he explained that his job was to deliver

clarity, confidence, and answers, not questions, uncertainty, and risk. This, my friends, was

our big moment. Alex didn't need more intelligence or analysis. That was already working for him. What he needed

was some vulnerability. And chances are in certain moments, so do you. So let's dive into what

vulnerability is, why it serves us, and how you can bring it to life. In the fourth most watched

TED Talk of all time, according to TED,

researcher Brunay Brown describes vulnerability as uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.

But vulnerability is often mistaken for weakness. When we speak of illness, for example,

we flag certain populations, like the elderly, as being the most vulnerable or the most likely to fall ill.

...