Leadership requires "an absence of shame around personal failures and imperfections"

From the terrific new book "Better Under Pressure: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Themselves and Others" by Justin Menkes. Here he discusses the need for leaders to show "realistic optimism" and "face actual circumstances" head on:

When you as a leader possesses the kind of humility that enables your awareness of true circumstances, you can face all kinds of stimuli, from negative personal feedback to challenging market fluctuations to employees' or customers' emotional reactions, without experiencing personal disruption. This utter absence of shame around your miscalculations or outright failures is the critical differentiator of someone acutely in touch with actual circumstances and someone who is not.

p. 63

Excerpted from "Better Under Pressure: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Themselves and Others" by Justin Menkes. (c) 2011 Esaress Holding, Limited.