How Authentic Are You?
Leadership authenticity will be a key topic we discuss with guests on Spirited Conversation. The latest issue of Harvard Business Review has a great article on the often conflicting nature of authentic leadership. Most of us have been in situations where we have had to adapt or flex to certain conditions like a new boss, team, or work culture. For leaders this adaption dance all the time and the expectation is to adjust or be dismissed. As the article points out, many of the lessons we learn from experience in terms of what works for certain situations may not always align with how we feel about the approach we end up taking especially when it’s different from our values or ways of working.
The emotional response to debating authenticity is typically “just be yourself” and everything will fall into place. That’s wishful thinking in the busier, global, and aggressively growing economy and business landscape we live in. The reality is we all have to form and reform our opinions and methods to balance our personal comfort levels and the needs of business.