Authentic leaders focus on the long term. They realize that nurturing individuals and a company requires hard work and patience, but the approach pays large dividends over time.
Authentic leaders are not afraid to show their emotions, their vulnerability and to connect with their employees. They understand it doesn’t make them “soft” and that communicating in a direct but empathetic manner is critical to successful outcomes.
Authentic leaders are able to put the mission and the goals of the organization ahead of their own self-interest. They do the job in pursuit of results.
Authentic leaders are self-actualized individuals who are aware of their strengths, their limitations, and their emotions. They also show their real selves to their followers.
They do not act one way in private and another in public; they don’t hide their mistakes or weaknesses out of fear of looking weak. They also realize that being self-actualized is an endless journey.
Many leaders try to be one way at work, while their “true” personality emerges outside of work. They think that leadership is an act.
These leaders are often confused when their employees don’t trust or like them, and can’t really wait to work elsewhere.Â
SIMILAR ARTICLES
- Rejecting the idea of adopting a different persona.
- Being self-aware and knowing their strengths and weaknesses.
- Focusing on delivering results, particularly in the long term.
- Being driven by the organization's mission and needs.
- Having integrity and are guided by morals.
- Being disciplined and committed to their own improvement and growth.
- Possessing high emotional intelligence.
- Listening. A servant leader seeks to identify the will of a group and helps to clarify that will.
- Empathy. A servant leader assumes the good intentions of co-workers and does not reject them as people.
- Healing. Understand part of their leadership responsibility is to help make whole employees whose sense of self is precarious.
- Awareness.
- Persuasion. Servant leaders rely on persuasion not positional authority or coercion, to convince others.
- Conceptualization. Balancing between thinking big and managing everyday reality.
- Foresight. The ability to understand the past and see the present clearly to predict how the future will unfold.
- Stewardship. CEOs, staffs and trustees all have a responsibility to hold the institution "in trust" for the greater good of society.
- Commitment to the growth of people. Feel a responsibility to nurture the growth of employees.
- Building community. Find ways to build community in their institutions.
They are people of the highest integrity, committed to building enduring organizations. They have a deep sense of purpose and self-discipline, are true to their core values, dare to build their companies to meet the needs of their stakeholders, and recognize the importance of their service to society.