The Gifts of the Pandemic | Stronger Through Humility & Vulnerability

Customer Experience University - Winning Loyalty & Engagement One Customer at a Time

Let’s face it, most of us care a lot about what others think of us (especially if we are leaders in business, community, or family). We project “the best of” ourselves in public and reserve “the rest of” ourselves for private. That approach leads to 70 percent of people feeling what researchers Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes label an “imposter syndrome.” Social media amplifies this syndrome, since most people tend to share the “highlight” reel of their life and not the “lowlight” events.

Let’s jump to the pandemic and how it made it harder to hide our blemishes, shortcomings, and limitations. For example, we saw leaders communicating from their bedroom not the boardroom. We knew our dogs, spouses, and children would wander into our videoconferences, and we went on camera having cut our own hair. As a result of our vulnerability, many of us spent less time managing our image. We acknowledged our fears, errors, and humanity, and operated more from our hearts and less from our heads.

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