{"id":692,"date":"2025-05-12T08:16:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T13:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/?p=692"},"modified":"2025-05-12T08:16:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T13:16:24","slug":"why-relatable-leaders-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/blog\/why-relatable-leaders-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Relatable Leaders Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The newly elected Pope, Leo XIV (born Robert \u201cRob\u201d Prevost) has already made global headlines. But I\u2019m going to sidestep the theological headlines and point to something far more personal. Something familiar.<\/span><\/p>\n

We both studied STEM fields. We both went to Villanova. We\u2019re both baseball fans.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never met the man, but I can picture him. A math major walking across campus in his 20s, maybe heading toward Mendel Hall with a graphing calculator in hand. Possibly swinging by Wawa for his favorite hoagie, the kind of ritual every Villanova student seems to have. (Maybe a Shorti with turkey and provolone? Extra pickles? Who knows.)<\/span><\/p>\n

But once you imagine someone making that kind of choice, you\u2019ve stopped seeing them as \u201cleader on high\u201d and started seeing them as a person. And that makes a difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because here\u2019s the truth: relatability is a leadership superpower.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Myth of the Inaccessible Leader<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

In most industries, especially those that involve power or prestige, there\u2019s an old model of leadership: be polished, be perfect, and stay on a pedestal. Make pronouncements. Avoid vulnerability. Maintain distance.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, every time we meet someone who breaks that mold \u2014 who shares something familiar, funny, or flawed \u2014 we don\u2019t trust them less. We trust them more.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the paradox. People assume that maintaining authority requires emotional distance. But distance creates doubt. Doubt that a leader understands what it\u2019s like for the people they lead. Doubt that they see the world through a shared lens. Doubt that they care.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leaders who are relatable remove that doubt.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why This Moment Feels Different<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Back to Rob Prevost, who became Leo XIV. He grew up in a working-class suburb outside Chicago, and before his long arc through Peru, Rome, and the Vatican, he earned a math degree and a law degree, studied at Villanova, and lived the kind of ordinary young-adult life that leaves footprints in dining halls and lecture notes and local hangouts. He didn\u2019t drop out of the sky speaking Latin and wearing robes. He figured out who he was one awkward semester at a time. Like the rest of us.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what decisions he\u2019ll make in his new role. But I do know this: I\u2019ve never felt like I could visualize a Pope in street clothes before. I\u2019ve never pictured one with earbuds, walking across campus or catching a ballgame. Suddenly, I can.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does that change what I expect from him as a leader? Not exactly. But it changes how I feel about listening.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That small, personal connection, real or imagined, is what opens the door to engagement. It\u2019s what gets people to stop scrolling, lean forward, and think, maybe this leader gets it.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Business Lesson Hiding in Plain Sight<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

You don\u2019t need to be a public figure to benefit from relatability.<\/strong> In fact, in small and mid-size businesses, it\u2019s even more powerful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about your team, your clients, your vendors. None of them need you to be flawless. They need you to be real. They need to know you understand the pressures they\u2019re under. They need to feel that you\u2019ve been there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the twist: relatability doesn\u2019t mean oversharing. It\u2019s not a confessional. It\u2019s not about making your every childhood memory part of a marketing campaign. It\u2019s about selectively revealing enough of your story to remind people you\u2019re human.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s the story about your first disastrous sales call. Maybe it\u2019s what you learned as a struggling manager during the chaos of 2020. Maybe it\u2019s your go-to order at the local diner. The point is to give people an emotional handhold.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you do, you change the dynamic. You\u2019re not just the one issuing orders, solving problems, or sending invoices. You\u2019re someone they know. And people are more likely to follow, trust, and support someone they know.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Relatability + Vulnerability = Credibility<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

There\u2019s another layer here: vulnerability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being relatable sometimes means showing the soft spots. The places where things didn\u2019t go as planned. The admissions that you, too, have days where you\u2019re tired or unsure or frustrated. Ironically, this makes people see you as more<\/em> competent, not less.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s because vulnerability, when paired with competence, signals confidence. It shows you\u2019re secure enough to be honest.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Think about the leaders you trust most. Chances are, they\u2019re not the ones who always act like they have it together. They\u2019re the ones who own their journey, flaws and all, and invite you along.<\/span><\/p>\n

One Easy Way to Start<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re not sure how to become more relatable as a leader, here\u2019s one easy place to start: tell a small story.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It could be in your next team meeting. In a LinkedIn post. In a customer conversation. Tell a story about something that happened to you that most people can relate to\u2026 your first job, your worst boss, a time you made a mistake and fixed it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stories disarm people. They lower defenses. They don\u2019t just transfer information; they transfer emotion.<\/span><\/p>\n

And once you do that, you\u2019ve stopped being the person \u201con high.\u201d You\u2019ve become someone worth following. Or at least worth listening to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Thought<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The odds of me having anything in common with a Pope were, let\u2019s say, not high. But here we are. STEM background. Villanova connection. Shared love of baseball. And maybe a favorite Wawa order I\u2019ll never know.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do those similarities mean I\u2019ll agree with every decision he\u2019ll make? No. But they change how I perceive him, and that\u2019s no small thing. It reminded me that relatability doesn\u2019t require much \u2013 just one or two human connections.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re in a leadership role, whether you manage a team of three or run a company of 300, ask yourself: What\u2019s one thing you can share that reminds people you\u2019re real?<\/span><\/p>\n

Because at the end of the day, being relatable doesn\u2019t make you smaller. It makes you stronger.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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