ESSENTIALS MANAGEMENT #1 THE FAILURE STORY “Being vulnerable is one of the most powerful things you can do as a leader because it shows you’re genuine. Being genuine builds trust. Trust is the key to getting anything done,” says Faul. “If you’re willing to tell everyone on your team about your mistakes, your shortcomings, what you’re currently working on to get better, you seem more human. It’s easier for people to connect with you. They have an easier time believing what you say, and that you’re taking their wellbeing into account.” It also gives people permission to take bigger risks in their own work. If your team knows about times you tried to do something and failed, they will also see that you recovered and went on to succeed. They won’t feel hard-pressed to be perfect or place small bets so they always win. When you’re at a startup, you can’t afford to play it this safe. “At Facebook, Sheryl [Sandberg] used to talk very publicly and encourage other leaders at the company to talk very publicly about things they tried that didn’t work and what they learned from it,” says Faul. “She would tell speciifc stories about the smartest people she knew, how they had stumbled, and how they had worked through failure. The way she told these stories, the people were very real to us. The feelings they experienced when they failed were very real. But the idea that the company was learning and moving forward was also very real. She made it clear these experiences were the foundation of Facebook’s culture and something to take pride in.” Faul remembers when he ifrst started leading people in the Marines, being vulnerable was very diiffcult for him in the same way it’s hard for many new tech managers. “You don’t want to show any sign of weakness because you want to convince everyone — maybe mostly yourself — that you’re there for a reason, you’re not a fraud, you don’t have any doubts,” he says. His attitude toward vulnerability and sharing failure didn’t start changing until he arrived at Facebook and saw the example set by Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg. Now he feels responsible for modeling this approach to the managers on his own team. It’s one of the most powerful ways to pass these skills along to more people and strengthen your entire organization. I saw ifrsthand the way my relationship with people changed once I started talking about mistakes. The entire environment of my team changed. Everyone started sharing more openly. 23