Authenticity in leadership

Extracted Attributes

• Benefits

  Fosters greater trust and motivation among subordinates, enables organizations to achieve success within ethical and social boundaries, positively related to employee performance and commitment, creates a creative/collaborative work environment, fosters an innovative mindset, inspires moral courage, boosts employee personal growth, satisfaction, and retention.

• Criticisms

  Empirical support has faced scrutiny, leading to some paper retractions.

• Definition

  An emerging area of academic study and a concept embraced by leaders and coaches, lacking a single, universally accepted definition. It is the healthy alignment between a leader’s internal values and beliefs and their external behavior.

• Development

  Involves guided self-reflection and building self-awareness through a life-stories approach; resistant to traditional training programs.

• Measurement

  The 32-item Leader Authenticity Scale (LAS) is a significant measure.

• Alternative to

  Leaders who emphasize profit and share price over people and ethics.

• Core Qualities

  Self-awareness, ability to trust one's thoughts/feelings/motives/values, self-reflection, receptiveness to feedback, capacity for honest conflict resolution, integrity, vulnerability, and acting in the best interests of those led.

• Historical Roots

  Can be traced back to ancient Greece, with an emphasis on 'Know thyself'. The concept evolved in the 1960s to describe how an organization reflects itself authentically through leadership.

Authentic leadership

Authentic leadership, while having no formal or unequivocal definition, is a growing field in academic research. The idea has also been embraced by leaders and leadership coaches, who view it as an alternative to leaders who emphasize profit and share price over people and ethics. There appears to be some consensus in the literature about the qualities an authentic leader must have. These include self-awareness, the ability to trust one's thoughts, feelings, motives and values, self reflection, responsiveness to feedback, and the ability to resolve conflict in honest and non-manipulative ways. An authentic leader is supposedly able to further the success of an organization within the confines of social and ethical values, even when that seems impossible. Authentic leadership is claimed to be a superior model due to the greater trust and motivation it invokes in subordinates. Much of the evidentiary basis for authentic leadership has been called into question and papers have been retracted.

Web Search Results

• Authentic leadership - Wikipedia

  Because authenticity in leadership is rooted in being true to one's own ideals of leadership and ethical values, authentic leadership is brought about through a lifetime of experiences and is resistant to traditional training programs. Development of authentic leaders involves guided self-reflection, building self-awareness through the use of a life-stories approach. An authentic leader who is aware of their core beliefs is unlikely to stray from them. There is now emerging evidence that [...] The first significant measure specifically gauging levels of authentic leadership was the 32-item Leader Authenticity Scale (LAS). The LAS measures the leader's tendency to behave genuinely regardless of formal job titles (referred to as salience of self over role), to acknowledge accountability for mistakes, and to avoid manipulation of subordinates. The LAS was developed by education researchers who identified leader authenticity as an important indicator of organizational climate in schools. [...] The concept of "authenticity "Authenticity (philosophy)")" can trace its history back to ancient Greece. Ancient Greek philosophers stressed authenticity as an important state through an emphasis on being in control of one's own life and the ubiquitous admonition: "Know thyself". Authentic leadership as we know it today evolved from the history of these terms. It originated in the 1960s as a means to describe how an organization reflects itself authentically through leadership. Some believed

• What Is Authentic Leadership, and Why Does It Matter?

  Authentic leadership is the healthy alignment between a leader’s internal values and beliefs and their external behavior. Authenticity requires a deep recognition of and attention to your values, emotions, expectations, struggles, motivations, preferences, frustrations, and the contradictions these may hold. Being an authentic leader means you know your style and your way of leading — and you make life decisions that reflect your ethics, values, and personality. [...] Authentic leadership means bringing your whole self to your work and leading with your values, your integrity, and your vulnerability. Organizations that foster authentic behavior are more likely to have engaged, enthusiastic, motivated employees and psychological safety in their work culture. Multiple studies have shown that authentic leadership is positively related to employee performance and commitment. [...] Authentic leadership creates a creative, collaborative work environment through open, truthful relationships. Trust and authenticity can foster an innovative mindset at your organization, while inauthenticity can make others not believe what you say and feel less inclined to work with you. #### Increased Leadership Effectiveness

• Authentic Leadership: What It Is, and How to Achieve It

  Authentic leadership means embracing high standards, integrity, and acting in the best interests of the people you lead, which then builds trust and naturally leads to stronger teams. And taking the concept of Authentic Leadership a step further, I want to introduce you to what I call Respectful Authenticity, which at its core is about being true to yourself and acting in ways that are consistent with your values. Authenticity – the concept – has been around for a long time. [...] Researchers have seen a direct correlation between authenticity and employee personal growth and satisfaction, which can naturally boost retention. Employees who work for authentic leaders tend to have higher levels of self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-development. Some research has also pointed to authentic leaders helping to inspire moral courage among their employees. [...] ## Why Is Authentic Leadership Important? Authenticity has never been more critical to great leadership. High-profile business leadership and ethics scandals remain in the headlines, contributing to a growing lack of trust in organizations. On average, according to multiple studies, only a third of U.S. employees are engaged, and less than half of that percentage are engaged globally.

• Authentic Leadership: What It Is & Why It's Important

  The Institute of Leadership & Management # Search # Authenticity We understand Authenticity to be “what lies between people”. Our research has revealed that authentic leaders are trusted, they have integrity underpinned by lived values and they stand out because they challenge themselves and empower others to be the best they can be. We understand Authenticity to be “what lies between people”. [...] Harter (2002) defined authenticity to mean that a person’s thoughts and feelings are consistent with their actions. Bass & Steidlmeier (1999), Luthans & Avolio (2003) and May et al., (2003) have all indicated that “authentic leaders are guided by a set of values that are oriented toward doing what’s right and fair for all stakeholders” (Michie and Gooty 2003 p443). [...] Our research has revealed that authentic leaders are trusted, they have integrity underpinned by lived values and they stand out because they challenge themselves and empower others to be the best they can be. ## What is Authentic Leadership?

• Steve Jobs, An Example of Authentic Leadership - Sites at Penn State

  First, let’s think about what authentic leadership is. Authentic leadership has been a complex approach for leadership scholars to define. The first of three definitions is the interpersonal definition, which states that authentic leadership stems from the relationship between leaders and followers. The second definition is called intrapersonal and has to do with a leader’s true self-knowledge. This is basically expressing that an authentic leader is true to themselves and knows who they really [...] Application of authentic leadership is tough to describe since it’s still in the early phase of development. The themes revolving authentic leadership are to have the capacity to learn to be authentic, to try to do the “right” thing, to be honest with themselves and others, to work for the common good, and to experience critical life events that act as triggers to growth and greater authenticity (Northouse, 2015, pg. 210). Steve Jobs fits the common themes of authentic leadership in that he was [...] “People want to have a trusting relationship with their leaders. In exchange, people are willing to give leaders greater loyalty and commitment” (Northouse, 2016, p. 199). Like you said, Steve Jobs was not afraid to tell his employees if they were wrong. Steve Jobs was a great example of authenticity leadership. I do not think authentic leadership can be fully taught that is why it has been hard to be formalized. “Avolio and Gardner (2005) basically state that life events (such as a crisis or