My father was invited into an executive group a few years ago. It is a national association of chief executives that meets regularly to cultivate their leadership abilities. While in Chicago in the fall of ’10, I had the pleasure of doing some project assistant work with the executive coach that leads my father’s group. After being up close and personal, I find this association is most closely aligned to the model of authentic leadership.
Authentic leadership as a general concept preaches that the best leaders are genuine as individuals, with their followers, and towards the situation (Northouse, 2010). The specific approach I think best represents them is the developmental definition. The developmental approach to authentic leadership posits that leadership can be learned through the advancement of four major components: self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency. The developmental approach also communicates that major life events and experiences can evolve these four components (PSU WorldCampus, 2012; Northouse, 2010).
The executive group, of about 15 people, meets once or twice a month to set goals, share knowledge and council each other. They enact the skills versus trait part of developmental authentic leadership in that they believe that with hard work and attention they can all improve their capabilities as leaders. This is mostly accomplished by exposing one another to each CEO’s story including the details of struggles and successes. These stories serve as experiences that encourage more self-awareness, balanced processing, and relational transparency. Additionally, the group, and especially their leader for whom I worked, embraces a high ethical standard forcing each leader to evaluate their moral reasoning before making organizational decisions. Similar to rehabilitation groups, with such transparency among group members, CEOs are held accountable for their behavior by one another. The other feat of this association that resonates with the authentic model is that the uniqueness of each leadership scenario is respected. By recognizing and embracing the uniqueness of each leader, the subordinates, and the situation, authenticity is able to flourish.
References
Northouse, P.G. (2010). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2012). Lesson 12: Authentic Leadership. Retrieved from:
https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa12/psych485/001/content/12_lesson/01_page.html