What do the words “authentic leader” actually mean? What truly makes one, and why is it worth the effort to become one?

There are many different answers to these questions. In this article, we’ll discuss why it is so important, and we’ll examine the different characteristics that make someone authentic as a leader.

Why Authentic Leadership?
Leadership today is very different from leadership in our parents’ generation. The old “top-down” style of management just doesn’t work anymore. Workers generally want to be fully engaged and committed to what they’re doing. They want to feel as if their work matters. And they want to believe in the people who are in charge.

Because of these higher expectations, it’s vital for leaders to know how to inspire passion and confidence in the people they’re leading. When people work alongside a truly authentic leader, they’ll often give their whole hearts and minds to the cause. In these situations, a spirit of teamwork and loyalty can spread throughout an organization, resulting in high morale and producing extraordinary results.

Authentic leaders inspire trust in their teams. People are more willing to be open about problems, which means that those problems are more likely to get fixed, instead of being ignored.

What Is Authentic Leadership?
So, authentic leadership can inspire people to pull together, work hard, and communicate. But how do you lead in an authentic way? What does this involve?

There’s no easy answer to these questions because it means a lot of different things and involves a diverse group of skills, actions, and behaviors. At root, however, authentic leadership is all about behaving with integrity and being consistent.

How to Lead Authentically?
The path to this type of leadership is not straight and well-defined. As we said earlier, it involves many different skills, traits, and actions. By focusing on some of the most common characteristics, you can start down your own path towards this.

Authentic leadership involves a lot of different things. And developing the skills and characteristics needed should be an evolving journey, not a final destination.

These leaders are often easier to recognize than define, but they all have a few traits in common. They know themselves well, and they never allow someone else to cause them to break their “moral codes.” They put their companies and their teams first, they’re excellent communicators, and they know how to use the right kind of power for the right situation.

Drop me a line if you’ve got any question or feedback,

Stay amazing, Be Legendary

Christian