I had all my gear on.
I was wearing my wireless headset so I could communicate with the other videographer.
I was filming a wedding, around 13 years old, with my cousin. Our business was named “Silver-Cams.”
I vividly remember a man telling his buddies at a reception, “What’s that kid doing behind a camera? He’s too young.”
He was referring to me.
As a 13-year-old, I could have responded to that comment a few different ways:
1) Tell him off and respond with anger.
2) Do nothing and ignore it.
3) Do nothing and internalize it and stop my creative pursuit.
I didn’t respond. I ignored the comment.
Although I remember that comment, I ignored it.
As children, we are born vulnerable. The risk, uncertainty, and emotional exposure that we face as children is inescapable. We don’t get a chance to choose to be vulnerable, we simply are. As adults, however, it’s important that we reframe vulnerability as a strength. Often, beliefs that we learn as children do not benefit us as adults. They limit us.
Why should you reframe vulnerability as a strength?
As a child, the idea of vulnerability is often scary... because many of us don’t choose where or whom we are born to.
But as adults who are more mature, and especially as business leaders, founders, and entrepreneurs, it’s important we embrace vulnerability.
Vulnerability is the foundation of the business context.
Vulnerability, or also known as transparency, is a competitive advantage for various businesses redefining what it means to exist in this evolved world.
Once again, as defined by Brené Brown, vulnerability is uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. Vulnerability can be experienced as the foundation of startups.
Vulnerability is also the foundation of creativity, change, and innovation (Brené Brown).
Businesses are creative pursuits.
To be creative is to connect dots in unusual ways.
To start a business is to spot an opportunity by connecting the dots that otherwise may not be connected.
This is what it means to be an entrepreneur. It’s about seeing the potential by connecting dots others may not be able to connect.
Once again, vulnerability is the foundation of creativity, innovation, and change. Entrepreneurship embodies all of this.
It is foolish to say that business is scientific. It requires someone putting themselves out there and trusting their instincts... trusting in vulnerability. Here’s to the crazy ones! This is a characteristic of entrepreneurship that your non-entrepreneurial friends will find it difficult to relate to.
Yes, there are ways to manage the risk (eg. with the Lean Startup methodology). I’m not saying that there isn’t science involved, there is (hello, metrics!).
What I am saying is that it’s important we respect the trust required for innovation, change, and creativity. Entrepreneurs who get this lead with trust.
When leaders first trust in themselves, and their own future, then (and only then) can they truly trust in their team. This trust is translated into everyone on the team speaking freely so that ideas get shared and growth is accelerated. Yes, metrics help to track effective ideas and growth hacks. And it takes a creative eye to connect the dots for growth opportunities.
I’m talking about truly remarkable differentiators or ways of affecting growth, not changing the colors of buttons (although I don’t doubt the value of doing that).
How to view vulnerability as a strength
Often, vulnerability has a connotation of being weak (thank you, society). Vulnerability is often scary because it means we’re affected by our environment.
Well, guess what, vulnerability requires you allow yourself to be affected so that you can connect the dots.
Think about it...
If you’re not vulnerable, then you’re not allowing yourself to be affected, and as a result you’re not giving yourself dots to connect.
Entrepreneurs may also overidentify with the vulnerability required to start. That is, they overidentify with their business, and they allow themselves to be affected. I often see this with first-time founders who are extremely controlling with their business idea (often requiring an NDA whenever they share it with someone and they’re often very secretive). They overidentify with their creation. Fear runs deep.
The trick to vulnerability is understanding its power and consciously choosing what affects you and what doesn’t.
If you believe you are in control of your emotions and thoughts, then you can mindfully decide what affects you and doesn’t affect you.
Guess what Ghandi said?
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
This challenge of finding strength in vulnerability does not happen overnight. Like everything, it’s a muscle. Little by little, decision by decision, moment by moment, the muscle becomes strengthened.
As an entrepreneur, you are in a unique position to lift the weight that will help you strengthen the muscle. After all, to build muscle requires an opposing force, right?
That is entropy.
That is the likely odds that your business may fail.
That is the person who is staring at you from the sidelines who doesn’t believe in you.
What will you decide affects you?
This ultimately comes down to being proactive versus reactive.
The proactive entrepreneur experiences everything in their business and determines what they choose to accept and what they choose not to accept. This is not an attitude. It’s a proactive practice.
The reactive entrepreneur gets overly stressed about their business, is running in too many directions at once, doesn’t know what to focus on, and finds themselves going through an emotional roller coaster because they’re too reactive. They’re allowing themselves to be affected too much. They’re overidentifying with their work.
The trick here is to execute proactively. Execution is the game.
Understanding the objective perspective will help entrepreneurs see more clearly. As mentioned in the objective perspective, the proactive entrepreneur understands that they cannot be negatively affected by anyone else because everyone else is simply projecting their reality onto everyone they meet (consciously or not).
Finding strength in vulnerability is rooted in awareness.
Why is finding strength in vulnerability valuable?
One word: growth.
Personal growth requires that we open ourselves up to learning. The same is true for a business.
Business growth, by the way, cannot be completely controlled and is not always certain.
That is, personal growth can be controlled more than business growth. Personal growth is within the control of you, whereas business growth is more complex, with more variables, and requires different elements to thrive (eg. funding or revenue).
Business growth is the result of great execution (often accompanied by great strategy or experimentation).
Let me say that again: business growth is a result. It is the effect of an appropriate cause.
I’m not talking about incremental growth. I’m talking about the type of growth that is untested, unheard of, and paves new ways of existing. This is about innovative ways of growing a business. Our constantly evolving human experience (HX) requires such creativity.
Embrace vulnerability.
Let’s go deeper...
Why we don’t embrace vulnerability more often
Watch this:
At the end, the campaign poses one simple question:
"What's holding you back?"
The answer is often: fear.
Fear of what others will think.
Fear of exposing your true thoughts.
Fear of disconnection from others.
I believe the human experience (HX) is about connection. The idea of disconnection is fearful.
Trust.
The human experience works if you believe in it.
I am calling entrepreneurs to be stronger.
Stronger for your team.
Stronger for your social circle.
Stronger for your future.
For your business.
For innovation.
For change.
For creativity.
For legacy.
