A year into his transformation, Ant Taylor’s team discovered they weren’t progressing because Ant himself didn’t understand how to use a key assessment tool. What would have been mortifying for “Ant 1.0” became a powerful three-hour session where his entire executive team watched him fail over and over until he figured it out.
“There’s no way I can simulate that for them. There’s no way that they’re going to get it better than to watch me struggle and find the thing, whatever the thing is, right in front of their eyes.”
This represents the shift from “don’t worry guys, there are no snakes in the jungle” leadership to “I’m gonna jump into that pit — it’s probably filled with snakes, I’ll probably get my ass handed to me, but if I live, come with me.” The first approach — pretending everything is fine — leads to burnout and people leaving. The second — authentic struggle in full view — is what nobody believed the first time, the version that’s actually him.
The meta-lesson: a leader openly struggling and finding their way through gives the team permission and a model that no amount of polished success can provide.
Related Concepts
- A leader’s vulnerability cascades through the entire team
- Vulnerability transforms business performance
- Being seen transforms behavior
- Everyone can see what you think you’re hiding
- Transformation comes through experiments, not epiphany