WHY I’M DOING THIS
The higher you climb, the more you’re expected to have the answers.
The more incredible people I meet, the more I notice it. More seniority brings more expectations of strength, confidence and resilience. Sometimes rightly so - leadership means making hard calls, keeping your cards close and giving people confidence when things are uncertain.
But somewhere along the way, we started confusing strength with having no doubts. We worry that admitting exhaustion will make us look weak, and that questioning ourselves will cost us our authority.
I believe the opposite. Vulnerability doesn’t make a leader weaker. It makes them human - and being human is what makes people trust you.
Off the Record is a weekly series inside The Ambition Memo about the things ambitious people rarely say out loud. The truth behind the title.
If you’ve ever walked into a room pretending you had all the answers, you’re not the only one.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
Here’s a real one. A COO at a global financial services company shared this with me:
What they sent
I’m surrounded by smart people all day. I have a leadership team, a board, hundreds of people reporting into my organization.
And yet I don’t feel like I have anyone I can actually talk to.
I can’t tell my team I’m exhausted. I can’t tell the CEO I’m questioning myself. And I definitely can’t tell the board I sometimes wonder whether I’m actually good enough for this job.
So I walk into the office every morning and act like I have the answers.
