The Authentic Leader Blog
Authenticity. It’s a word we hear all the time. But what does it really mean to be an authentic leader? The term is thrown around loosely in leadership and professional development circles and often becomes a nebulous concept in peoples’ minds. Rather than provide a purely academic definition of authenticity, I have included examples of authenticity in action below based on my own experience.
WARNING: This post will require reflection and vulnerability.
“I’m not ready”, “I don’t have enough experience”, and “I’m not good enough” are examples of self-limiting beliefs that are toxic. Self-limiting beliefs prevent us from achieving success in our careers and lives. But what are self-limiting beliefs? Simply, they are negative self-perceptions that live in our conscious and subconscious rooted in past experiences, comments by others, values and beliefs of our family and friends, and even messages from the media (or social media).
In business, leaders are regularly praised for their ability to communicate as well as to empower and motivate their team members, though underlying those abilities is a healthy dose of empathy. Empathy for others that supports their ability to engage more effectively with their teams leading to a number of key benefits. Despite the impact that empathy has on leaders’ ability to lead, empathy is an often overlooked skill of the best leaders.
