Claire Chandler, Executive Leadership Advisor at Talent Boost. Growth on Purpose: I examine how leadership shapes the world.
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A great deal has been written recently about authenticity in the workplace—specifically, its correlation with healthy psychological function (for employers and employees), leading to greater synergy, improved performance and better business outcomes. But for a lot of leaders, the suggestion to “be more authentic” can be a challenging one to follow. What does authenticity mean, concretely, and how can these leaders navigate the balance between openness and authority?
In my experience, many leaders suppress their authentic voice and unique personality traits for fear of standing out, seeming too “quirky” or less authoritative. Despite the prevailing research to the contrary, the myth that executives must hide their authentic selves persists. As a result, executives stunt their own organizational growth because they're holding back.
This leads to an erosion of trust between employees and executives. People want to follow leaders who don't necessarily “look like” them, but are nonetheless relatable. Otherwise, they simply can’t trust them. Meanwhile, executive leaders are laser-focused on maintaining a persona of leadership, which inherently keeps them at a distance from their employees.
In many ways, executives feel stuck between a rock and a hard place: They know they are ultimately accountable for the results of their team and their organization—and therefore, many feel the need to maintain the persona of a distant, charismatic leader. They need to differentiate themselves, to make it clear that they’re the ones to look to for direction. However, what makes them most “followable”—i.e., most relatable and accessible—is their fundamental humanity, which they’ve taken pains to hide in service of those responsibilities. What’s a leader to do?
The Power of Opening Up
There are two keys to unlocking authenticity: Vulnerability and self-awareness. Many of the executives I work with have unique personalities…which they only let out on the weekends with their families or their friends, or “off the record” when speaking with me one-on-one. This removal of the “self” actually takes them away from their best qualities as leaders—the unusual ways they see the world, their loftiest ambitions, and what uniquely drives them.
Many leaders seem to mistake charisma for authenticity. I’ve had employees tell me, “Our CEO is super-charismatic, but really, they’re just looking to get on the cover of TIME Magazine.” (Meanwhile, a lot of authentic leaders think that they cannot be followable because they are not as charismatic as that person on the magazine cover.) The reality is that charismatic leaders are entertaining to listen to, but not all are inherently followable: As an employee, you can’t have a real conversation with them when they’re walking around the office acting like rockstars.
In contrast, genuine, vulnerable leaders deeply believe in what they are trying to build and grow. These people may not be charismatic; they may not command a room like Bono at a 1990s U2 concert. But these are the types of leaders that employees feel they can sit down and have a real conversation with. Bluntly, these executives seem more like humans. They may be odd or weird, or sometimes struggle socially; they may have incredibly eclectic, nerdy interests that they want to tell you about when you enter their office. These leaders’ openness and imperfections are what make them relatable to employees, who then can understand their vision and what needs to be done to make it happen. Employees are far more willing to go along for the ride when their leader doesn’t pretend to be flawless.
Important Red Flags
I love giving executives a “pop quiz” by asking them, “When was the last time you changed your mind based on the input of someone on your team?”
This ends up being a very revealing question. Authentic executives, who are human first, know they are not perfect—that their own judgment and knowledge are sometimes fallible. They can point to concrete examples of listening to their team, taking their guidance and changing course. In fact, they deliberately surround themselves with individuals whom they know can compensate for their weakest areas and complement their strengths.
Conversely, one of the telltale signs of inauthentic leaders is that they are so convinced of their own rightness, of having a holistic and comprehensive worldview, that they are never actually open to feedback. Most leaders will assure you that they are. Yet, when you ask them, “When was the last time you changed your opinion about the direction that you're going?” or “What decisions have you made recently based on the input of your employees?”, that's when the inauthentic leaders begin to stand out.
Changing Course
If you, as a leader, receive feedback that you are perceived as inauthentic (or you realize you’ve flunked the “pop quiz” above), it’s time to reset your self-awareness. In all likelihood, you’re probably getting this feedback from an anonymous survey; by definition, you aren’t even getting this feedback from your actual employees because they perceive you as being shut down, and they have no confidence that you would receive their critiques positively (without defensiveness or repercussions).
If this happens, it’s time to do some deep inner work. It’s not about going on a “listening tour” to convince everybody that you are authentic. The work has to happen internally. Go back and reset your internal honesty meter. Reconnect with your own North Star: What do I believe deeply? What are my loftiest goals? What do I hope to achieve in doing this work? Why am I here—and what motivates me to keep coming back?
Ultimately, to get to a place of authenticity, you have to shed your persona. There’s just no other way around it. Your executive work persona cannot be like the set of an old Wild West film, where the general store, sheriff's office and saloon are merely cardboard buildings with no substance behind the facade. It’s time to tear down that entire set.
What’s left once you’re standing on a pile of cardboard rubble? That’s your authentic self, no longer hidden or disguised. That’s what you have to work with—and that’s what will bring your employees through your office door, ready to speak honestly, challenge old ideas and innovate. That authenticity is what will move the needle, bringing your organization forward.
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