Authentic leadership is built on four key pillars: self-awareness, transparency, fairness and strong moral values. Effective leaders inspire trust by aligning their actions with their words, making objective decisions and demonstrating accountability. In this guest post, Clive Holt explores why authentic leadership matters and introduces the principles he will examine in future articles.
When Sean approached me with the notion of writing a short piece outlining some of my views on effective leadership, I had no hesitation in prioritising Authentic Leadership as a cornerstone of effective leadership. Also sometimes referred to as ethical leadership, authentic leadership is a relatively modern philosophy supported by academic research and theory. I was fortunate enough to encounter and study this concept early in my career and have endeavoured to apply it to my own leadership journey.
The prevailing consensus is that leaders are most effective when leading from their values base as opposed to positional authority, trying to portray a certain type of image or for personal gains and gratification. Academics also agree that authentic leadership is based on the four pillars of self‑awareness (knowing yourself), relational transparency (being genuine), balanced processing (being fair-minded), and an internalised moral perspective (doing the right thing). But what does it look like in reality?
The essence of authentic leadership lies in knowing your true values, applying them to fair and objective decision making, transparency, and the courage to do the right thing. Casting an eye across Australia’s leadership landscape, it is not difficult to find glaring examples of the absence of authentic leadership principles in what can be described as some questionable decision making at best. Looking globally, there is no shortage of dysfunctional and corrupt leaders whose moral compasses clearly struggle to find true north. So where are the authentic leaders and how can we recognise them? Authentic leaders stand out because their actions align with their stated values, they practice absolute transparency, are accountable, and there are no hidden agendas. Would you rather follow a leader you can believe and trust, or one who is purely in it for their own gains?
So, it is not surprising that organisations are increasingly embracing leaders who are authentic, inspire trust and create a safe space in which others can thrive and explore their potential. Being or becoming an authentic leader is not easy, it requires ongoing and honest self-reflection coupled with objectivity and the willingness to be open to all possibilities. As a former mentor of mine used to say, when making decisions, “show me the science behind your decision”. This helped me to apply objective rationale rather than emotions to a decision-making process to ensure the decision aligned with organisational objectives rather than my own preferences. A concept I refer to as ‘Purpose over Preference’ which I will touch on more in future pieces.
Given my views on this subject, and the four pillars identified earlier, I believe that in order to it justice will require more than one short piece. With this in mind, I will approach each of the four pillars individually and do a deep dive into them in separate future articles. The first of which will focus on self-awareness, or knowing yourself authentically, understanding and embracing your values, strengths and limitations. This is a critical first step to knowing what underpins your leadership and modelling your values to others in a way that inspires trust. A question I often ask myself, when faced with a dilemma or decision, do my actions match my words? Because if they don’t, how can I expect others to trust or follow me.
While this article is merely the tip of the iceberg and provides a brief overview of authentic leadership, I look forward to digging deeper into each of the four pillars in future articles.
Clive Holt
MBA · MAICD · AFAIM · GLWA
0403 150 360
clive@ascendceo.com.au
ascendceo.com.au
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