Courage Does Not Exist Without Vulnerability
At the Walt Disney Company’s Investor Day on April 11, 2019, Marvel Studios announced three new series for the coming Disney+ streaming service, which would launch in the United States on November 12, 2019. Despite my excitement for the ever growing catalog of movies and TV shows about superheroes, I was somewhat skeptical of some of the series, with the first-to-be-released “WandaVision” (2021) near the top of that list.
However, WandaVision’s debut on January 15, 2021 intensified my interest as it raised question after question in my mind about what was really going on in the show. As question after question spiraled in my mind, I found a series on YouTube, entitled, “Easter Eggs & Details You Missed” by New Rockstars.
Week after week, from the beginning and end of WandaVision to the Marvel Studios series that followed, I turned to New Rockstars, ScreenCrush, and more channels and shows I want to admit to bring awareness to what I may have missed in the moment as I was distracted or drifting off in my own thoughts.
In our day-to-day lives, we don’t always have experts we can turn to on demand who can point out small details with big implications or show us what we may have missed. When we miss the meaning of things or miss them altogether, we miss opportunities for the people around us to feel heard, seen, and valued.
It’s impossible to make people feel heard, seen, and valued without hearing, seeing, and valuing them.
You can’t make people feel cared for without truly caring for them.
In 2008, Nationwide participated in its first Gallup Q12 assessment. The results showed the company was better than average in its employee engagement, but for an organization that prides itself on caring for its people, “better than most” wasn’t good enough.
“We were deeply disappointed,” Nationwide's Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Gale King said in a July 20, 2021 Gallup article, “Anytime anything impacts our people, that's difficult for us. It's difficult for me.”
King and the company’s top leadership took the issue to heart by taking Nationwide’s people into their hearts.
Nationwide responded investing in learning and listening, including increasing opportunities for leaders to learn from people throughout the organization. In this way, the company’s leaders prioritized the engagement and well-being of its people above all else, even as the COVID-19 pandemic brought financial and operational challenges.
“It was probably one of the best decisions we've made because our people saw it as one," King said of the decision to keep Nationwide’s people as its “North Star.”
“It affirmed that they matter and that we were paying attention to their needs. We felt strongly that our associates more than ever needed to hear from us, and we needed to hear from them.”
As the pandemic continued, King also continued to take Nationwide’s people into her heart.
“We focused on things that assured our associates that we had their backs, that we were listening to them and that we would do everything in our power to reduce their fears."
The results were clear. By 2019, Nationwide’s employee engagement was twice that of the overall working population, and the organization was one of eight in the world to be recognized by Gallup as an “Exceptional Workplace.”
When we give our full attention, we’re seeking the full meaning of the moment-even if it’s something we don’t want to hear. Our willingness to open ourselves to the full meaning of those moments reflect our willingness to be open to others and to be vulnerable with them.
Where there is vulnerability, there also is courage.
