I recently shared a post on Linkedin about Amy Golding, CEO of Opus Talent Solutions. The link was an interview with her for the BBC and gave her a chance to explain why she wasn’t the “typical” CEO of a £100m global business.

At first glance, Amy seems very young and, in her words, “girly”, but listening to her it is clear that she is a very bright women. The focus of the interview was on why she wasn’t what people would expect, but to me the most important aspect of the interview was her comments around the skills required by a CEO.

I have long commented on the fact that the best leaders and executives are not those that think they “know everything”, it is impossible to know everything, but those who know what they don’t know and aren’t afraid to admit it. This is one of the major facts highlighted by Amy and one that she attributes her success to.

Those people who are not afraid to admit what they don’t know will also be able to surround themselves with people who can plug that knowledge and skills gap. The result is a strong team that has a complete set of skills. This is what sports teams aim to achieve to make them the complete team and enable them to win prizes. The same should be the case for businesses of any size.

By not admitting your weaknesses you actually increase your exposure to risk by trying to undertake tasks you don’t have the skills to fulfil. Mistakes will be made and customers lost.

Ultimately your team will respect you for accepting you are don’t know everything and by being open and honest, that team will work harder to ensure the business is a success.