If you want to be effective as a leader today, then you must be authentic. If you are not authentic, the best people won't want to work with you, and they won't give you their best work.
What do authentic and effective leaders do?
● They readily align people around a common purpose that inspires them to peak performance.
● They unite people around a common set of values so that everyone knows precisely what is expected.
● They empower others to step up and lead so that people throughout the organization are highly motivated and give their best.
● They are in constant dialogue with all constituencies; as leaders, they bear the responsibility of engaging not only shareholders, but customers, employees, and communities as well.
This is not easy. It is the hard side of leadership.
The easy side of leadership is getting the short-term numbers right. Many smart people can figure out how to do that. It is much more difficult to get people aligned, empowered, and committed to serve a broad set of constituencies.
Being authentic as a leader creates a virtuous cycle. The very best people will want to work with you, and as a result, performance will be superior, and you will be able to take on ever greater challenges.
The bottom line is this: In the twenty-first century, without authentic leaders, there will be no sustained effectiveness in organizations.
With authentic leaders, the possibilities are unlimited.
What Is an Authentic Leader?
Authentic leaders have discovered their True North and live it to align people around a shared purpose by empowering others to lead authentically in order to create value for all stakeholders.
Discover Your True North Fieldbook is about mining your life story for deep insights, uncovering the unique gifts that you bring to the world, clarifying your core values, and knowing the underlying purpose of your leadership.
This journey is not about style. This is a common misconception. Authentic leadership is about the deeper you; by knowing and living from your leadership purpose and core values, you are able to let go of seeing yourself as one type of leader (strategic, tactical, introverted, extroverted, etc.). You begin to realize that who you are, your True North, gives you the flexibility to excel in a wide range of situations, all while being true to your authentic self.
Aligning others around a shared purpose and values becomes possible when you can see and feel the connection of your own purpose and values to those of your organization. This enables others to really trust you, increase engagement, and produce higher levels of performance.
This does not mean you have to be perfect. Far from it. Like all of us, you can have your weaknesses and be subject to the full range of human frailties, mistakes, and still be a successful authentic leader. In fact, by acknowledging your shortcomings and admitting your errors, you will connect with people and empower them.
Empowering others to lead is the final element of authentic leadership development. As we stated earlier, true leaders help others become more authentic. Our success is ultimately measured by the ability of others to discover their True North.
How Will This Fieldbook Help You Become an Authentic Leader?
To develop as an authentic leader, you start by reviewing your life story and mining it for patterns and inspiration. You anchor your current leadership profile by reviewing past experiences with leading in order to learn from them. You explore common reasons why leaders lose their way by being an imposter, rationalizer, glory seeker, loner, or shooting star. You identify and unpack significant life crucibles to discover how they influence and shape who you are and how you lead. These elements are covered in Part One of this fieldbook.
Part Two focuses on several elements that define the True North compass:
● Leading with self-awareness requires you to ask for tough feedback, be vulnerable, and have compassion for yourself – the cornerstone of authentic leader development.
● Leading through values asks you to gain some clarity about your core values, leadership principles, and ethical boundaries.
● Leading from your sweet spot encourages you to define when you are at your best by discerning patterns of essential strengths and passions.
● Leading with wisdom from others requires you to confront the raw truth – you don't have to go it alone – by encouraging you to conduct an audit of your personal support team.
● Leading in all parts of your life demands that you show up the same in every domain of your life and encourages you to define what it really means to live an integrated life.
Part Three focuses on authentic leadership in action. It moves from leading with purpose to empowering others in your organization by selecting the appropriate leadership style to fit the situation. We also explore what it takes to lead in a global context.
We conclude by asking you to summarize and integrate everything you've learned in this guide by preparing your own Personal Leadership Development Plan.
Your Idea of Leadership
This fieldbook is for anyone interested in becoming more authentic, whether you are currently in a formal leadership position or not, if you plan to lead in the future, or even if you don't typically think of yourself as a leader.
Consider these contrasting examples:
“From my earliest days I have been fascinated with leadership,” said Kevin Sharer, CEO of Amgen. “When somebody asked me at 10 years old, ‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’ I said, ‘I just want to be in charge.’”
“I don't think other people think of me as a leader,” said David Kelley, founder of IDEO. “‘Leader’ is a funny word for me. You see, I'm a collaborator. If there is a problem, I call all the smart people I know and get them in a room and have them figure it out.”
How about you? How do you think of yourself as a leader?
Introductory Exercise 1: Leadership Images in Your Life
You first learn about leadership and leaders by watching others. These examples offer patterns from which to learn. They are the raw material from which to construct the conceptions of leadership you carry into your work and your life.
The purpose of this exercise is to call to mind what you already know about leading, those implicit theories of leadership you've developed by watching others.
Think of five leaders, past or present, whom you have admired. Write their names below, and then answer for yourself the questions that follow.
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Which of these leaders have had the greatest impact on your conceptions of leadership?
1. ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________
4. ______________________________________________
5. ______________________________________________
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