The Truth About Authentic Leaders

This week’s lesson highlighted the importance of authentic leadership and defined what it means to be an authentic leader. I was very intrigued by authentic leadership because it is a style of leadership that I am not very familiar with, especially because there is not a lot of evidence for its effectiveness. According to the lesson, authentic leadership was considered a maxim for the longest time until certain situations forced research to prove its worthiness as a leadership theory (Hamel, 2021). Authentic leadership is defined in three parts: interpersonal, intrapersonal, and developmental. ‘Interpersonal’ describes the portion of authentic leadership that focuses on having and maintaining strong and honest relationships between leaders and followers (Hamel, 2021). ‘Intrapersonal’ describes the internal thought processes of the leader and includes the leader’s self-knowledge, regulation of behavior, and confidence in being themselves (Hamel, 2021). ‘Developmental’ is the last way to describe authentic leadership. It means that authentic leadership can be learned, improved upon, and maintained (Hamel, 2021). The developmental definition of authentic leadership is the most widely accepted depiction of the theory and it combines the interpersonal and intrapersonal definitions as well by explaining how certain life events might cause a person to make some adjustments, thus bringing out their authentic leadership abilities (Hamel, 2021). 

Authentic leadership is said to be effective, however, there is no right or wrong way to use this theory. According to Terry’s (1993) wheel of authentic leadership, one should look at breaking points in a given leadership situation or environment that can be corrected to allow for authentic leadership to occur (Hamel, 2021). George’s (2003) approach explains how leaders can improve their authentic leadership abilities by using five dimensions: 

• Purpose 
• Values
• Relationships
• Self-discipline
• Heart 

Lastly, the theoretical approach states that leaders should have a combination of the right experiences and positive attributes that lead to the presence of four key components: 

• Self-awareness
• Internalized moral perspective
• Balanced processing
• Relational transparency 

All of this information in regards to the authentic leadership theory can be quite useful, however, it poses the question “Is being yourself really beneficial advice for a leader?”. According to a Harvard post by Bill George, several critics have put forth convincing evidence that authentic leadership is not as useful as it might seem. Jeff Pfeffer says that in crucial times and during periods of stressful decision-making, the last thing leaders should be is ‘authentic’ (George, 2016). In other words, leaders need to “fake it til they make it” if they want to be successful and if they are having a difficult day, they should never make it known to their followers as this could negatively impact job performance. Leaders can utilize several of the following steps to develop of better understanding of themselves and what it really means to be an authentic leader:

• Explore their past and make connections to their personal experiences
• Take the time to reflect
• Seek honest feedback from colleagues 
• Understand their job and purpose as a leader
• Learn how to create and maintain an effective leadership style specific to their audience

Authentic leadership theory should not place as much value on the “being your authentic self” portion of the theory but rather taking into consideration the thoughts and feelings of others while using your own unique talents and positive personality traits to further one’s success (George, 2016). In other words, authentic leaders should be careful to monitor the appropriateness of their speech, behavior, and body language in the workplace and should be in touch with their colleagues to ensure that their team is engaged at all times (George, 2016).