A good article, which should probably be read alongside the one about "vulnerability" by Leah Fessler [1] that it is responding to. Mining the links, I sniff

A good article, which should probably be read alongside the one about "vulnerability" by Leah Fessler [1] that it is responding to. Mining the links, I sniff an insidious confusion about what it means show "vulnerabilty". On its face, it sounds like "exposing your weaknesses". But in pro-vulnerability literature (e.g. [2]), it seems more like "displaying honesty and courage". Those are strengths, not weakensses. An example is when someone is confident enough to say "Hey, I don't know about [X], can you explain it?". That confidence is good; but for it to work, it must be common knowledge that, since no-one understands everything the question displays keenness to learn (i.e. strength) and not ignorance (i.e. weakness). [Pro tip: one of the most valuable, and easiest, life skills I learned as a young man was to say "I don't know" in a confident tone of voice.] It is bad if vulnerability-talk teaches young people to display their weakness, since of course that will lead people to lose confidence in them. What else could it do? But it is good if they learn to turn problems into opportunities to strengthen themselves, and to do it openly so that their colleauges can help. [1]: https://work.qz.com/1155475/im-a-millennial-and-i-cant-get-my-older-colleagues-to-be-vulnerable-help/ https://work.qz.com/1155475/im-a-millennial-and-i-cant-get-m... [2]: https://www.fastcompany.com/3001319/why-doing-awesome-work-means-making-yourself-vulnerable https://www.fastcompany.com/3001319/why-doing-awesome-work-m...