Legendary leaders are terrifyingly transparent. Terrifyingly. They literally are so clear about who they are, they’ll say, “Here are the sales numbers, here’s what’s going on for me.” The great CEOs I’ve worked with that I’ve coached one-on-one, I’ve helped them become so transparent with their teams that their teams fall in love with them. If you look at the great military generals, I think it was Alexander the Great, he was facing, people were saying, “We’re not going to do this, we’re not going to go on this next military campaign. We have lost our trust in you. We are exhausted, we are starving. We want to go home and we want to be with our families.”You know what Alexander the Great did?
He said, “Fine.” All his men were looking at him. He stripped off his shirt, and you know what he did? He showed his scarred body. And the men looked at the scars and there were horrified. And then he turned around and they were even more terrified, because they saw that every scar on their great leader’s scar-ridden, wound-filled body was at the front. He never turned his back to the enemy and he was there fighting with them. And the men felt this incredible love for them, because when you are vulnerable, people will fall in love with you. When you are transparent, people will say, “She’s not a salesman in a world of salespeople.” One of your winning advantages is your authenticity in a world of so much superficiality. Be real. Say to your team, say to your intimate partner, share with your kids, “This is who I am. This is the life I’ve lived.”
With my children, we recently had a conversation over this big wooden harvest table and a great cup of Italian coffee. You know my love of Italy, you know my love of coffee. By the way, another episode, but it’s a great cognitive enhancer and it’s one of nature’s top antioxidants. Please don’t knock coffee. Key point is, with my children I shared my life’s journey. I shared my failures. I shared my insecurities. I shared my limitations. You want to be a fly on the wall for that conversation between me and my two children. Now you want to be appropriate. My children are older, so that was a very appropriate conversation at this age that they’re at. The key point is, transparency wins as a legendary leader.