Vulnerability in LeadershipParaugs

Vulnerability and resilience, two sides of the same coin.

Vulnerability is a contrasting concept with resilience. Resilience is the ability to successfully face adverse situations and learn without losing the sense of mission; on the other hand, vulnerability is the real risk that a person, system, or object may suffer from imminent dangers, be they natural disasters, economic, political, social or cultural inequalities. The point is that these two conditions (resilience and vulnerability) coexist dynamically in us. According to Walter Brueggemann: "We, as bearers of the image of God, are bone and flesh, strength and weakness, authority and vulnerability, together."

What we seek is to identify in Jesus a model of leadership in which both realities fit, vulnerability and strength to overcome. According to the author Melamed, it is necessary on the one hand to show "all the potentialities" but also on the other "all the weaknesses and opportunities". Bazerman and Moore say that if we were all properly humble about the quality of our judgments, we could more easily verify our opinions and correct our flaws. Instead, we continue to believe that our views and judgments are correct, despite abundant evidence of our own fallibility. The idea is to set up a leadership that is more aware of all internal realities, that is, a focused leadership that: on the one hand, does not underestimate or overestimate its own capabilities; and on the other hand, does not consider self below or above others. Just as the Apostle Paul refers to when he says "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment” (Romans 12:3 NIV).

The Apostle Paul himself stated perhaps more clearly the resilience-vulnerability contrast when he expressed feeling pleased with weaknesses, since when "I am weak then I am strong." He understood that the power of God in us is only perfected or completed when we acknowledge before Him our weakness and not when we try to act in our own strength or capacity to resist difficulties (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

To reflect: We have a lot of strength to live. How do we know? Because what activates the strength of God in us is our weakness [that of which we have plenty].