A640.6.4.RB - Authentic Leadership

A640.6.4.RB - Authentic Leadership

 

Authentic leadership is proposed as the core of effective leadership needed to build trust because of its clear focus on the positive role modeling of honesty, integrity, and high ethical standards in the development of leader-follower relationships (Wong & Cummings 2009). 

 

Critics attribute authentic leadership to a way to manipulate and deceive followers. Martin and Sims (1956) and Bailey (1988) wrote that all leaders must be manipulative to succeed.

 

Using the elements of thought, walk through the two statements above and compare and contrast the assumptions and implications of two such differing schools of thought.

 

The schools of thought that make up the above statements are not both about authentic leadership. The first statement is about authentic leadership. The mention of modeling honesty, integrity, and high ethical standards is exactly what authentic leadership is about. The second statement is about critics ascribing authentic leadership as just another way to manipulate their employees means that the critics have completely missed the point.

 

If a leader is manipulating or deceiving their employees then they are not authentic leaders. Therefore, the critics are wrong. Even if a person says, “Hey, I’m an authentic leader.” but goes out and cheats his staff, misleads his bosses, and lies to his customers – he is not an authentic leader. You get what you see with authentic leaders. Manipulation, game-playing, backstabbing, and hidden agendas are inconsistent with authenticity. (Rockwell, 2016) Being an authentic leader isn’t about labeling oneself as such. Being an authentic leader is letting your actions prove your authenticity. Anyone can say that they are a servant leader, or an authentic leader, or a resonant leader…you can say that you are Harry Houdini all day long but unless you can prove it – it’s not true.  Unless you walk the talk and model the behaviors of an authentic leader – you are not an authentic leader. If you are misleading your team – you are not an authentic leader. If you are manipulating and deceiving your employees – you are not an authentic leader.

 

An authentic leader, as described in the first statement, being a leader who models honestly, integrity, and high ethical standards. It is also defined in our text as be a style which results in both greater self-awareness and self-regulated positive behaviors on the part of leaders and associates, fostering positive self-development. The authentic leader is confident, helpful, optimistic, resilient, transparent, moral/ethical, future-oriented, and gives priority to developing associates to be leaders. (Rowe & Guerrero, 2013) This is a lot to live up to – high standards for sure. Being an authentic leader isn’t easy and not everyone who attempts to model these behaviors is 100% successful. It is important to be authentic to yourself and do what you can. If you act like you’re an authentic leader but you are not being authentic to yourself – then you have also missed the point - it is an “all-in” proposition. It takes personal confidence to let yourself be seen. Authentic leaders are “seen” when they declare their beliefs, thoughts, motivations, and intentions. (Rockwell, 2016)

 

The two statements above talk about a style of leadership but only one is actually talking about authentic leadership.

 

 References:

 

Rockwell, D. (2016). Authenticity is at least four things. Leadership Freak. Retrieved from https://leadershipfreak.blog/2016/03/09/authenticity-is-at-least-four-things/

 

Rowe, W. G., & Guerrero, L. (2013). Cases in leadership (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.