Two moments emerged from last week’s Emmy Awards that every leader should take notice of.

One was about vulnerability. One was about generosity.

Together they made a quiet, powerful case that empathetic leadership is not soft. It is what actually drives high-performing teams, award-winning projects, and cultures worth being part of.

Michael J. Fox: What Leaders Hide Is Often What Builds The Most Trust

At the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards , Michael J. Fox accepted the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award - one of only seven times in Emmy history it has been given - and used the moment to reveal something he had carried alone for years.

“Initially, I kept my Parkinson’s diagnosis a secret,” Fox told the audience . “I worried that it would affect my work and my relationship with audiences. Would they laugh if they knew I was sick?”

And then he continued: “I was stunned by the support from all of you. It was so uplifting. It made me feel like I could keep doing this, and I hadn’t lost what I do, and they couldn’t take this away from me. And it’s because you stood up for me, and I really appreciate it.”

What Fox described is something well-intentioned leaders do every day: hide struggle, uncertainty, and fear behind a performance of strength . And the justification makes sense: if they know I’m unsure, will they worry? If they know I don’t have all the answers or have it all together, will they will lose confidence in me? Will I be seen as weak or somehow unable to lead us through this?

But Fox’s experience, along with decades of leadership research, tells us the opposite is true. Vulnerability does not erode trust. It builds it. When leaders name what is hard, people feel permission to do the same. After all, they know what’s going on. Right now, we are in a time of chaotic change. They can see through anyone who is pretending not to be unsure or fearful. No one has the answers right now, so stop pretending ! The best we can hope for is a leader who expresses confident vulnerability. Ï’m nt sure. I’m worried to, And we’re going to solve this together.” That is where real connection, real collaboration, and real performance become possible.

Trust and psychological safety is built through honesty, not by putting on false personas. As McKinsey partners Dana Maor and colleagues write in their book The Journey of Leadership : “The number-one reason teams fail is a lack of trust. The ultimate purpose of being vulnerable is to give leaders permission to invite thoughts and insights from colleagues — which, in turn, builds trust. So if you want to be trusted as a leader, you need to show your vulnerability.”

Fox modeled vulnerability by sharing his struggle, continuing on in his career, and using his platform to help others. He displayed it on one of television’s biggest stages, and the room responded with tears and two standing ovations.

Stephen Colbert: The Best Leaders Use Their Platform To Lift Others

Stephen Colbert’s Emmy win for The Late Show marked the (current) end of his 21-year hosting career, and rather than spend his final acceptance speech looking back at his own legacy or even calling out any wrongs done to him, he took the high ground and spent it advocating for his team.

“The thing about these late shows is that, besides being a really good steady job, they require so many people that they’re a fantastic incubator for young people to come in to learn to work professionally on a deadline in cooperation, in collaboration. That is the future of our business that we have to look after,” Colbert said. He then urged the room directly , with a touch of his trademark levity: “I want you to know I got some great news. They are all tech avail. Hire them. They will make your show better, and they will make your day easier.”

That is servant leadership in action.

Colbert did not use his final platform to cement his own legacy. He used it to launch other people’s. He demonstrated exactly the Both/And thinking I write and speak about that defines the most effective leaders today: You can celebrate your own achievement AND lift others with it. You can hold your own success AND invest in the next generation. That is how you become a leader worth following into crisis and through change.

The Leadership Thread That Connects Them

What Fox and Colbert shared Monday night was not just gracious acceptance speech behavior. They modeled two powerful lessons of how empathy shows up in great and strong leadership.

Empathy for Self: the courage Fox showed to finally reveal his struggle, to stop performing invincibility, and to trust that honesty would be met with support rather than judgment.

Empathy for Your Team: The generosity Colbert showed in using his moment not to speak about himself but to open doors for others.

Most leaders are comfortable with neither. They hide their own struggles because vulnerability feels like weakness. And they hoard their platforms because credit feels like currency. Both instincts are understandable. Both are also quietly corrosive — to trust, to culture, and to the kind of performance that actually sustains organizations over time.

Modeling When It’s Hard Matters the Most

Your team is watching how you show up. Not just when things are easy, but when they are hard. They are watching whether you use your platform to share openly, lift others or protect yourself.