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Most of All, Be Vulnerable

January 26, 2016 Stephanie Friedman

"Be yourself. Don’t try to be somebody else to please somebody else… be honest, be transparent, but most of all, be vulnerable." 

At some point, we all should have listened to our mothers. Marcus Lemonis did, and good thing, too. Marcus' mom gave him valuable life advice that he applied to business (and then he became an uber successful entrepreneur). 

I'm sure I'm late to the game in discovering Marcus Lemonis. It happens. I'm a Millennial, which means I'm supposed to know about the latest iPhone apps, pop songs and TV shows. I guess I'm not that kind of Millennial - I read business books, listen to country music and watch whatever re-runs happen to pique my interest enough to have as background noise while I am cooking dinner. So tonight, the credit music rolled on Shark Tank and suddenly The Profit was on, featuring successful entrepreneur, Marcus Lemonis. "Alright, why not?" I thought.

I was instantly hooked. You could say it's just another "business overhaul" show, but I was inspired by this particular businessman, who seems to be the complete opposite of the stars of other similar shows - those who use fear and dominance to influence people and outcomes (ahem, John Taffer and Gordon Ramsay). Marcus was real. He was honest and humble. He spoke with conviction and still had a likability about him. Wouldn't we all love to be seen that way? Wouldn't we be better leaders if our employees saw us as transparent, honest and vulnerable? Wouldn't our businesses grow if our customers saw our brands - and the people behind our brands - this way?

Authenticity. It's a marketing buzz word that I loathe because, as Amy Cuddy perfectly put it, it's "thrown around like confetti on New Year's Eve." However, it bears an important message: BE YOU. OWN IT, whatever IT is. Marcus implies the same thing here but adds a deeper layer which is vulnerability. That means don't just be sincere and genuine, but be bold, take risks, and open yourself up to accepting criticism... as well as help. 

#TakeAction: Where in your business can you show more vulnerability? What is the best thing that could happen if you do? What's the downside?

In Thought Starter Tags Marcus Lemonis, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Brand Marketing, Authenticity, #TakeAction
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