Written by Jill Pennington, Senior Director, Talent Consulting Services
In an age where trust in leadership is crucial but potentially more fragile, authenticity continues to be a key characteristic of effective leaders. Authentic leadership reflects deep self-awareness, transparency, and genuine connection with others. But what does it mean in today’s workplace? How does authenticity enable leaders to navigate current challenges? And most importantly, how can leaders develop authentic leadership skills in a way that inspires trust, empowerment, and impact?
What is authentic leadership?
The concept of authentic leadership gained traction with Bill George’s book Authentic Leadership published in 2003. In the book he sets out the key characteristics of authentic leaders, defining them as those who “… demonstrate a passion for their purpose, practice their values consistently, and lead with their hearts as well as their heads. They establish long-term, meaningful relationships and have the self-discipline to get results. They know who they are.”
In more recent years, debate has grown around the link between leadership authenticity and adaptability and development. Staying true to self can sometimes be construed as only doing what feels comfortable, but there is much research that links continuous learning with effective leadership. According to Herminia Ibarra, a Professor of Organizational Behavior, “adaptive authenticity” is achieved by “viewing ourselves as works in progress and evolving our professional identities through trial and error, we can develop a personal style that feels right to us and suits our organizations’ changing needs.”
Putting it simply, authentic leadership is about being yourself with skill.
Why is authentic leadership important?
One of the main reasons why we need authentic leadership is because we need employees to trust their leaders. Trust is important in a world of turbulence and change. While managing organizational change, successful restructures, and mergers and acquisitions are highly challenging for leaders to navigate, they have one major commonality in that their success relies on elevated levels of trust in leadership.
The power of trust: Building authentic leadership skills
Greater complexity means organizations can’t always provide the clarity that people look for, and leaders can’t be expected to know all the answers anymore. Instead, they earn followship and trust because they provide a clear sense of purpose and inspire and empower others to share ideas and problem solve. When trust is high, people feel more comfortable with ambiguity, but cynicism and a lack of engagement can arise within teams when trust levels are low.
Trust also enables innovation in the workplace by creating environments where people feel valued and comfortable about making suggestions and experimenting. In Talogy’s recent leadership research report, leadership authenticity was identified as a key quality that helps create a climate where employees feel able to respond creatively to more complex challenges. This connection that comes from authentic leadership is vital as organizations cannot afford to have oblivious leaders who are out of touch with both their employees and customers.
Additionally, changing employee expectations means people are looking for leaders they can get to know as people and who are sincere and genuine. Leaders who exhibit authentic leadership skills create environments where employees feel more connected to the organization, leading to higher engagement and staff retention.
In research conducted by Talogy, attracting and retaining top talent was identified as one of the top five biggest leadership challenges. Transparency and openness between leaders and team members are key to both authentic leadership and effective talent management. Knowing team members’ true needs, career plans, and personal goals relies on a level of trust between employees and their leaders that enables proactive and engaging talent management within an organization.
Finally, in an era where organizational structures are more matrixed and global, practicing leadership authenticity helps leaders build strong peer relationships needed to get things done even if spread out geographically or following remote or hybrid schedules. The ability of authentic leaders to connect with peers and collaborate is important in organizations that are increasingly global, complex, and technology-reliant.
How do leaders become and stay authentic leaders?
Authenticity in leadership starts with knowing yourself and how you need to and want to be as a leader. This strong anchor of leadership identity enables leaders to be principled, consistent, dependable, and known, which builds the trust of others. To effectively implement these authentic leadership skills, there are a few requirements that need to be developed.
Being an authentic leader requires emotional intelligence and the ability to manage how you show up if you want to build sustainable relationships, provide consistent leadership, and enable productive ways of working. Emotional intelligence helps leaders to balance authentic self-expression with the emotional demands that come with being a leader. Emotional intelligence involves being self-aware and intentional about how you respond and adapt to different situations. Karissa Thacker references this in her book The Art of Authenticity where she describes the need for leaders to use self-awareness to deploy different aspects of themselves for different situations.
Building strong relationships is core to authentic leadership. Authentic leaders convey a clear sense that results matter, but so do people. They value others and invest time in relationships to help foster a climate of openness at work. Authentic leaders create psychological safety by listening, asking questions, and empathizing which encourages openness in others. This authentic connection involves being open themselves so that others can get to know them as people as well as leaders.
Authentic leaders provide a clear purpose which is key to motivation and building trust. They are passionate about this purpose which provides an inspiring ‘why’ for projects, teams, and functions. This also gives people the clarity they look for amidst ambiguity. Linked to this is openness and clarity about roles, performance, and expectations. Authentic leaders provide freedom within a framework, leaving employees feeling empowered while also clear about expectations, boundaries, and how they are performing.
The link between authenticity in leadership and adaptability has been discussed quite often recently. Commentators on authentic leadership, including Professor Herminia Ibarra, acknowledge that staying true to yourself as a leader can create authenticity rigidity that limits growth or can be used as an excuse for sticking to what is comfortable. Having a mindset that is open to learning, embracing a wider context, and founded in self-awareness means that authentic leaders see moments that challenge their sense of self as opportunities to learn.
The increasing importance of authentic leadership for the future
Authentic leadership is an evolving and key concept for today’s leaders. Highly relevant for the modern workplace, leaders can learn to be authentic by combining deep self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and a commitment to personal growth. The outcome will be leaders who can develop and sustain leadership authenticity in a way that builds trust, fosters meaningful relationships, and drives long-term success.
This becomes even more important in a world where artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining traction, which will only intensify the debate around authenticity in the workplace. As AI reshapes the workplace, authentic leadership may well become even more necessary to provide reassurance to employees about the impact on their role and to ensure organizations have human-centric, ethical, and inclusive approaches to AI adoption. Authentic leaders play a critical role in guiding organizations through this shift, fostering trust, and helping employees see AI as an enabler of growth and innovation rather than a threat.
