MANAGING AUTHENTICITY

The Paradox of Great Leadership

 INTRODUCTION

Select one option

1. Leaders should always act the same way in

different situations regardless of who they are
dealing with

2. Leaders have to be many things to many

people while remaining true to themselves
 INTRODUCTION

Level 5 leadership:
Leaders traits: Greatness
Will
Personal Humility
Self discipline
Flexibility
Confidence
Endurance
Decisiveness
Coolness under stress
Initiative
Justice
Self-Improvement
 INTRODUCTION
Authenticity

 The condition of being true to one's own personality, spirit,

or character (Merriam-Webster online dictionary)

 “All the world’s a stage … and one man in his time play
many parts.” (Shakespeare)

 It must be attributed to you

 It shows pieces of your personality for certain situations

 MANAGING THE PERCEPTION
 Establishing authenticity as a leader is
an important requirement in order to
efficiently lead any group which can be
achieved in two fundamental steps
 First, ensure that your words are
consistent with your actions
 Second, become relatable.
PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
 Perception is everything whenever we
are trying to get others to want to follow.
 If we say one thing and tend to do
another our perception will be
considered to be fake.
 Once a leader is dubbed with the title of
being fake it takes a lot of work to
relinquish that title.
BECOME RELATABLE
A good leader can be compared to a
chameleon, capable of blending with a
surroundings.

 Find commonalities
 Ask questions: family, friends,
endeavors, etc.
 Leave nobody out!
ESTABLISHING YOUR
AUTHENTICITY
First, there is no right way to manage your
authenticity. The following steps will help others
perceive you as an authentic leader.

 Get to know yourself and your origins

 Get to know others better
 Connect to the organization context better
ESTABLISHING YOUR
AUTHENTICITY
Get to know yourself and your origins
- explore your identity: people, places
and events that shape you
- return to your roots: meet old friends and
spend time away from the trappings of the office
- avoid comfort zones: step out of your routine,
seek adventure and take risk…
- get honest feedback: ask for feedback from
close colleagues, friends, family, and so on…
ESTABHLISHING YOUR
AUTENTICITY
 Get to know others better
- build a rich picture of your environment:
find out more about people’s backgrounds, family,
hobbies and so on
- remove barriers between yourself and
others: show a weakness or vulnerability that
reveals your approachability
- empathize passionately with your
people: Care about your people and their work
ESTABLISHING YOUR
AUTHENTICITY
 Connect to the organization context
- get the distance right: be wary of creating the
wrong first impressions. Use both your sense of self
and your understanding of your origins to connect
with, or separate yourself from, others
- sharpen your social antennae: seek new
experiences to help detect subtle social clues to
attract followers
- honor deeply held values: cultural beliefs
- develop your resilience: learn and understand
your own values
HOW AUTHENTIC LEADERS ACQUIRE THE
ATTRIBUTES

1. Keeping their goals simple

• Try to accomplish no more than 3 or 4 big goals at a time
• Unwavering about them – doesn’t question them anymore
than he/she question himself/herself
• Goals are connected in some way to one or another of
the leader’s authentic self
• The pursuit of goals and how they are communicated to
the followers is intense, promoting self-disclosure
HOW AUTHENTIC LEADERS ACQUIRE THE
ATTRIBUTES
2. Keep people who give honest feedback close to
them
• Leaders more open to truths about themselves and their
relationships with others
• Sharpening their skills in disclosing their Emotional
Intelligence (EQ) they already have
HOW AUTHENTIC LEADERS ACQUIRE THE
ATTRIBUTES

3. Recognize which aspects of their authentic selves

particular groups of followers are looking for

• Great leaders have highly developed social antennas

• They use a complex web of cognitive and observational
skills to recognize what followers are consciously and
unconsciously signalling to them
USE WHERE YOU COME FROM

No leader will ever succeed in establishing their

authenticity unless they can effectively manage
their relationship with their past and their
followers’ connection with their roots.
USE WHERE YOU COME
FROM
Authentic leaders use their personal history to
establish common ground with their followers

A CEO who trumpets his heritage may be

offensive or intimidating to employees and
customers
USE WHERE YOU COME
FROM
People frame their backgrounds in different
ways

People define themselves through gender, class,

race, status, and geography. They express this
through dress, speech, food, and even walking
USE WHERE YOU COME
FROM
Knowing this we should be cautious about
making simple generalizations about societies
and cultures.

In America, handshakes are usually short and

firm to show self-confidence, whereas in
Malaysia a handshake is more relaxed or limp
and may last up to ten or twelve seconds
USE WHERE YOU COME FROM

Authentic leaders are sensitive of their origins

and aware of the differences in cultural attitudes
toward their background
CONFORM-BUT ONLY
JUST ENOUGH
AUTHENTIC LEADERS
 Must judge how much they should conform to the
social and organizational norms
 Create enough distance from the norms to be viewed
as special and attractive
 Too much conformity can render the leaders ineffective
 Too little conformity can isolate them
 Must know how to balance between their
distinctiveness and the cultures in which they operate
 Do not immediately seek out head-on confrontations
 Start out with trying to gain minimal acceptance as a member
of an organization
COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONS
 Select the specific norms you want to be identified
with
 Get to know all levels of your organization
 Who can you win acceptance from?
 Select the specific norms that need to be rejected
 What can be eliminated?
 Appeal to the organization’s rank and file
 Know how to identify with people at the top and bottom of
the hierarchy
VIDEO