The Case For Authenticity In Leadership
I’m a user and supporter of AI tools and ways of working. I’m definitely no expert, nor will I become a vocal promoter for it beyond my own scope of understanding and use cases. Because like with any tool, the decisions around AI’s role in our work lives is a choice that a person, team or organization needs to consciously make.
But there’s one observation that I keep coming back to. As I think about the space that AI currently holds in our minds and public discourse, there’s one element that most (if not all) of us can align on; when AI shows up as inauthentic, we have a BIG negative reaction.
When the slop, hallucinations, and other garbage show up, there’s a big shift. We reject its ideas and observations. We feel violated and tricked. We question its role in our lives and move our feelings about it from a potential ally to a defined enemy.
Why is that? Why do we have such a visceral and powerful reaction?
That’s because as humans, we crave authenticity. Authenticity is a foundation of all relationships, whether it be with people or experiences. If we feel duped, fogged or spun a tale, we point it out, call it out, or just get the hell out!
Which brings me to the importance of authenticity in leadership.
Authenticity in leadership is the curated and conscious act of being genuine, real, or true to one's own character and origins. It means living and acting in alignment with your core values, without pretense or performative actions.
AI slop is generative output without a soul…it predicts what sounds correct based on aggregate data and trends, but it lacks underlying meaning or substance. Leaders do this too when they lack self-awareness and contextual understanding. Instead of leading from their core essence and values, they parrot jargon and corporate speak, mimic what they think a leader should sound like, or offer platitudes that are wafer thin. Like AI slop, teams recognize this superficiality instantly. It takes up space but adds no value. Instead of it building trust, it erodes it like a landslide.
It’s the difference between a leader as a persona, where you are essentially wearing a mask and playing a role, versus a leader as a person where you dare to be a human and fully yourself.
The foundation of authentic leadership is having a clear and conscious view of your own leadership brand. You know what people say about you when you’re not in the room. You understand the values that guide you, the superpowers that propel you, the unique value you create, and the benefits that people get from working with you.
Every day, you show authenticity and commitment to that brand throughout your life and work. You communicate your brand with clarity and confidence. You are constantly refining and rebalancing that brand to ensure it’s real and grounded.
Being authentic is never an excuse or cover for being an asshole. Being authentic is never a hall pass to excuse a leader from showing up unregulated or inconsistent. “That’s just the way I am” is among the weakest and flimsiest forms of self-awareness. In fact, it’s the exact opposite of self-awareness and understanding the impact you have on others.
Authentic leadership is an intricate interplay of self-awareness, balanced feedback, and strong values. It’s an often-daily recalibration, found in the moments of self-reflection, peace, and mental expanse that every leader needs.
So how do you stay in that place of authenticity as a leader? Here are three easy buttons to hit:
Get Feedback - Authentic leaders are anchored by self-awareness. To get that self-awareness, you need the right feedback. Those closest to you—co-workers, team members, managers—are rich sources of information about your leadership. They are the antidote to the leadership hallucinations that can fall on any of us. But accessing their feedback, affirmations, and perspectives will require the risk of asking for it. It can be hard to ask. But the discovery is worth the cost of vulnerability.
Use Assessments - Good AI outputs are authentic because they are data grounded. The same kinds of data can be found for leaders in industry-leading personal assessments, such as Strength Finder, Insights, or the Strength Deployment Inventory. They are a critical building block that give you language, reason, and framing for your authentic leadership brand.
Know Your Narrative - Every leader needs a narrative. Distilling your story down to what great leadership looks like for you, telling people around you what you stand for, and how they can expect you to show up, is the pathway to authenticity. Those words need to be sweated over. They matter too much not to put some serious effort into them.
Being an authentic leader is hard work…probably harder than it needs to be. The voices of others, the ever-present grind of imposter syndrome, and the strain of high performance demands all make it a challenge to be authentic as a leader. But it’s an essential pursuit that provides the elemental rewards of inner peace, self-confidence, and clarity to how you show up as a leader.