Vulnerability Is the New Age Leadership

Today, I had the honor of joining a community of courageous entrepreneurs, changemakers, and innovators at the Dare To Be Vulnerable Project (DTBV), hosted at Invest Ottawa in partnership with RBC Wealth Management Dominion Securities.

This wasn’t just another morning of professional networking. It was a mirror — a reflection of where leadership is evolving. A sacred space where business leaders set aside titles and achievements to speak truthfully about something far more human: mental health, emotional resilience, and the courage to rise up.

The Power of Vulnerability in Leadership

One of the morning’s most powerful stories came from a woman who had lost everything at 54 — her relationship, her home, her stability.

She spent 17 months homeless. That woman was Susan Blain, Founder of Dare to be Vulnerable project. She was couch-surfing, moving between friends and family, searching for safety.

Her voice anchoring a current reality:
“We can’t rely on the system; we have to rely on ourselves.”

Her courage reframed what resilience truly means. It isn’t the absence of struggle — it’s the will to rebuild after everything familiar falls apart.

In a world obsessed with productivity and performance, leaders rarely have permission to say, “I’m not okay.” 

We were reminded that only 6 percent of those suffering from depression ever receive the help they need — that 75% of suicides involve men and that women attempt suicide three to four times more often than men.

Behind every statistic is a heartbeat. A story. A leader trying to hold it all together.

When Entrepreneurs Remove the Mask

Serial entrepreneur Ed Hansen shared something that resonated with every founder in the room:

“As an entrepreneur, everyone seems to want a piece of you. The moment you let your guard down — when someone asks how you are, and you share a glimpse of your stress or payroll struggles — the reply often comes, ‘Well, you chose this. You should’ve worked for the government.’

But that mindset doesn’t align with me. Entrepreneurship is about resilience, not regret. So now, when people ask how I’m doing, I simply smile and say, ‘I’m great.’”

When people respond with, “You chose this,” it reveals a collective desensitization — a world where individual resilience is glorified, but collective empathy is scarce. 

It shows how society often treats entrepreneurial struggle as self-inflicted rather than systemic, placing the burden of survival entirely on the individual instead of recognizing that mental health is a shared ecosystem.

Here’s what it says about our collective responsibility:

1. We’ve normalized isolation.
   Entrepreneurs are expected to be self-sufficient superheroes — to build, lead, and innovate — yet when they falter, they’re met with judgment, not support. This culture of “you chose this” silences vulnerability and breeds burnout.
   
   
2. We mistake strength for suppression.
   Saying “I’m great” becomes emotional armor. It protects you, but it also mirrors a world uncomfortable with authenticity. Behind that smile often lies exhaustion, anxiety, or loneliness — symptoms of a mental health system that prioritizes productivity over humanity.
   
   
3. We’ve forgotten that leadership is human.
   Real leadership requires spaces where honesty is safe — where sharing struggle isn’t seen as weakness but as wisdom. Holding space for each other, especially for those building systems that serve others, is a moral and cultural responsibility.
   
   
4. Empathy is the new infrastructure.
   The future of entrepreneurship — and of wellness — depends on rebuilding that collective muscle: listening without fixing, supporting without shaming, and understanding that behind every founder is a nervous system trying to hold the weight of a vision.

If we can shift from “You chose this” to “You’re not alone in this,” we begin to redefine success — not as perfection, but as sustainable humanity.

The Dare To Be Vulnerable Project, reminds us that the future of business lies in spaces where truth is allowed to breathe — where the human behind the entrepreneur is seen, heard, and supported.

Hearing leaders like Susan Blain, Ed Hansen, Brock Murray, Kyla MacGinnis, and Shannon Ferguson share their journeys reminds us that vulnerability creates the conditions for innovation. When leaders show up authentically, they give permission for others to do the same.

Where My Work Intersects

As a mental health and resilience educator for a UNICEF co-venture project, I work on youth-suicide prevention in Kazakhstan, the nation with the highest child-suicide rate in the world.

My work also spans the MENA region, where I serve as a Mental Health Consultant filming awareness and program-advocacy content for children and youth through Elgorithm, amplifying stories that bridge stigma and healing.

Before that, in Toronto’s Regent Park I served as Resilience Educator for The Immersed Project — later showcased at Nuit Blanche 2019 and the Regent Park Film Festival 2019 — revealing how storytelling and creative expression can transform community trauma into collective strength.

Now, as a Wellness and Purpose Facilitator with Airbnb, I witness organizations awakening to the truth that emotional wellness isn’t a perk — it’s performance infrastructure.

This event affirmed something I’ve always known through experience: when we invest in mental health, we multiply human potential.

From Confrontation to Carefrontation

One of my favorite reframes from the morning was this:
“Instead of confrontation, it’s carefrontation.”

Every chapter of my journey — from humanitarian advocacy to wellness facilitation at Airbnb — reaffirms one truth: healing is the foundation of sustainable success.

Entrepreneurship, at its core, is a deeply human endeavor. Behind every startup, there’s a story. Behind every visionary, there’s a moment of doubt, grief, or awakening that shaped their purpose.

I left the Dare To Be Vulnerable Project feeling compelled to continue bridging worlds. As the founder of The School of Ikigai, I help individuals and organizations bridge that gap — from burnout to balance, from confusion to clarity, from survival to purpose.

All of it converges on one truth: healing is the foundation of sustainable success.

A Call to Founders, CEOs, and Changemakers

If we want resilient companies, we must cultivate resilient people.

Let’s normalize emotional check-ins in our boardrooms.

Let’s train empathy alongside strategy.

Let’s remember that the strongest leaders are those who know when to rest, when to reach out, and when to listen.

Because no innovation can thrive in a burned-out system. And no human being should ever have to choose between ambition and mental

Closing Reflection

The Dare To Be Vulnerable Project left me deeply moved — not because it offered answers, but because it offered truth.

Sometimes courage looks like saying:
“I’m struggling too — but I’m still here.”

And sometimes that honesty becomes the lifeline someone else needed to keep going.
In the end, vulnerability isn’t a soft skill.

It’s the new competitive advantage — the bridge between surviving and thriving, between leading and healing.

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About the Author

Isabella Kanso is an award-winning changemaker, a mental health resilience educator, Ikigai coach & founder of the new earth lab, The School of Ikigai — a global movement helping individuals and organizations heal, find purpose, and lead consciously. Her work spans from trauma-informed education in post-war regions to wellness facilitation with global brands like Airbnb.