The Truth About
Authentic Leaders
Is "Be yourself" terrible advice
for a leader? Bill George, the creator of the "authentic
leadership" approach to management, answers critics and outlines the path
for executives to be more effective.
The debate over which form of leadership
works best seems settled, in my view. Most leading companies globally are
focusing on developing "authentic leaders" within their ranks.
Executive courses at Harvard Business School in authentic leadership
development are oversubscribed and expanding every year. As the Harvard
Business Review declared in January 2015, “Authenticity has emerged as the
gold standard for leadership.”
In 2003, our book Authentic
Leadership proposed a new kind of leader, whose
character was the ingredient that mattered most—more than characteristics or
style. We also challenged older models of leadership, including the “great man
theory” and competency-based leadership models. Previous generations of
business people spent more time trying to “market” themselves as leaders,
rather than undertaking the transformative work that leadership development
requires.
Critiques of authenticity
But recently three leading scholars at
Insead, Stanford, and Wharton challenged the concept of authentic leadership.
Like all movements—Harvard University Professor Michael Porter’s famous five
forces of strategy comes to mind—growing acceptance of an idea often attracts
contrarian critiques, which ultimately are healthy in clarifying our
understanding.
In Leadership
BS, Stanford’s Jeff Pfeffer says, “the last
thing a leader needs to be at crucial moments is authentic.” Insead’s Herminia
Ibarra adds, “We have to find a way to fake it till we become it.” The most
recent salvo comes from Wharton’s Adam Grant, who wrote in the June 5 New
York Times, “’Be yourself’ is actually terrible advice… Nobody wants to see
your true self.”
While these writings have garnered plenty of
press attention, their critiques of authentic leaders reflect a fundamental
misunderstanding of authenticity. Webster defines authenticity as “real or
genuine; not copied or false; true and accurate.” It comes from the Greek word
for author, which led author Warren Bennis to say, “You are the author of your
life.”
Ibarra postulates two types of authentic
leaders: “low self-monitors” and “high self-monitors.” Low self-monitors tend
to say whatever comes to mind, whereas high self-monitors watch carefully what
they say for its impact on others. This distinction creates a false dichotomy
because low self-monitoring is the opposite of being authentic, and is a sign
of immaturity and insensitivity to the feelings of others. Leaders who do this,
such as telling a colleague, “I’d like to go to bed with you,” as Grant
proposes, are anything but authentic.
Authentic leaders monitor their words and
behaviors carefully to be attuned to their audiences and to enroll their
colleagues and teammates. They do so because they are sensitive to the impact
their words and actions have on others, not because they are “messaging” the
right talking points.
Ibarra’s second critique of authentic leaders
is that they are often locked into a rigid sense of themselves, much like their
immature teenage selves. This is the antithesis of authentic leaders, who are
constantly developing themselves to increase self-awareness and improve
relationships with others. They don’t hide behind their flaws; instead, they
seek to understand them. This lifelong developmental process is similar to what
musicians and athletes go through in improving their capabilities.
How leaders develop their authenticity
Rather than trying to redefine what it means
to be authentic, research and leadership development programs should focus
on how leaders develop their authenticity. Being authentic as a
leader is hard work and takes years of experience in leadership roles. No one
can be authentic without fail; everyone behaves inauthentically at times,
saying and doing things they will come to regret. The key is to have the
self-awareness to recognize these times and listen to close colleagues who
point them out.
The essence of authentic leadership is
emotional intelligence, or EQ, as articulated by Daniel Goleman. People with
high IQs and low EQs can hardly be called authentic leaders. In contrast to IQ,
which basically does not change in one’s adult lifetime, EQ can be developed.
The first and most important step on this journey is gaining self-awareness.
In preparing to write Discover Your True North,
my research team and I conducted in-depth interviews with 172 authentic
leaders. This research highlighted the vital role of self-awareness in
leadership development. Here are some recommended steps people undertake to
develop a deeper understanding of themselves in order to become authentic
leaders:
·
Explore their life stories and their
crucibles in order to understand who they are. As my HBS colleague Lakshmi
Ramarajan says, the process of learning, growing, and developing an integrated
self is a process of construction and meaning–making. As leaders explore their
life stories and crucibles, and process their experiences, they develop deeper
understanding of themselves and feel increasingly comfortable being authentic.
This is a lifelong journey in which we are always discovering the next layer,
much like peeling an onion. As leaders discover their truth, their True North,
they gain confidence and resilience to face difficult situations.
·
Engage in reflection and introspective
practices by taking time every day to step back from the 24/7 world, turn
off all electronics, and reflect on what is most important to them. This can be
done through introspective practices that are growing rapidly in popularity,
such as meditation, mindfulness, prayer, long walks to clear one’s mind, or
simply sitting quietly and reflecting. The key here is set aside preoccupation
with task lists, iPhones, and the latest news in order to reflect privately. In
this way the urgent does not take precedence over the important in one’s life,
and leaders examine how they are living their lives and engaging with the world
around them.
·
Seeking honest feedback from colleagues,
friends, and subordinates about themselves and their leadership. One of the
hardest things for leaders to do is to understand how other people see them,
which is often quite different than how they want to be seen. To gain greater
understanding of how they are coming across, authentic leaders obtain real-time
feedback by listening to their “truth tellers,” who give them candid critiques
about their leadership. Those that surround themselves with loyal sycophants,
who only tell them how well they are doing rather than being brutally honest,
risk going off track. Leaders also gather feedback through regular 360 degree
reviews from peers and subordinates. The qualitative comments shared in 360
reviews can be of great benefit if leaders take them to heart, and genuinely
try to change.
·
Understand their leadership purpose so
they can align people around a common purpose. Purpose defines the unique gifts
people bring to leadership challenges, through which they can align others with
their purposes in order to create positive impact. This is far more important
than focusing entirely on achieving success in metrics like money, fame and
power, yet ultimately produces sustained success in those metrics as well.
·
Become skilled at tailoring their
style to their audiences, imperatives of the situation, and readiness of
their teammates to accept different approaches. There are times when leaders
have to make difficult decisions that are sure to displease people, and they’ll
need to give tough feedback. At other times they need to be inspiring, good
coaches, and consensus builders. These flexible styles aren’t inauthentic if
they come from a genuinely authentic place. In this sense leaders’ styles
become the outward manifestation of their authenticity. As leaders gain
experience and develop greater self-awareness, they become more skillful in
adapting their style, without compromising their character.
What is needed now is a deeper understanding
of how leaders become authentic, as they navigate the practical dilemmas and
paradoxes they face. For example, Karissa Thacker’s recent book The
Art of Authenticity takes authenticity to a deeper level by
exploring topics like relational transparency and honest conversations, making
peace with paradox, and seeking the truth.
My colleagues at HBS are working on the
challenges of being authentic, such as how and when to be vulnerable, cognitive
distortions, making meaning of who we are by integrating the constructed self
with the true self—or True North—and going from purpose to impact. These are
fertile areas for research by academics and in-company leadership experts.
Rather than creating false postulations about
authentic leaders, we need to focus on how we can enable leaders to become more
authentic, and give them the tools to do so. In this way authentic leaders will
be able to create better lives for everyone they serve.
by Bill George
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-truth-about-authentic-leaders
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