#353 vulnerability

Over the weekend, I went to the first fine arts festival of the summer.  There will be several of these events in the coming months, and I go to as many as my calendar permits.  I treat it like an outdoor museum, where I can look at all the beautiful art works and admire the extraordinary jewelry.  

Only, it isn't an outdoor museum; it's an outdoor store.  Those artists aren't sitting in their booths to entertain me; this is their livelihood.  I felt that more poignantly at one booth where I spent a fair amount of time on Saturday afternoon.  I loved this artist's work, and was fascinated with how he made it.  But I only made a minor purchase of a $12 pin vs. the $365 wall hanging that I spent the most time admiring.

I thought about the vulnerability that it must take to be on the arts circuit.  To have someone walk by your booth without even entering it.  To not take personally the face-to-face rejection when people leave without a sale.  Or to conceal the disappointment when the little purchase is made instead of the big one.

In the new Oprah magazine, there is an article about vulnerability, in which Dr. Brene Brown writes about vulnerability being "brave enough to show up and let ourselves be seen."  

Even if you're not an artist in the fine arts sense of the word, I think that all of us could practice a bit more vulnerability.  It is easy to hide behind time and distance that separate us from most of our ultimate clients and to create work that becomes generic.  Instead, try to put yourself out there, personalize your work, meet people face-to-face, and be proud enough to pretend you're an artist at the fair.  

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

*O Magazine June 2013 Oprah's Conversation with Brene Brown, p. 136.