MASTERING AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP: A FOUNDATIONAL QUALITY FOR WORKING TOGETHER

Abstract

AbstractDowden contends that leaders must “possess an advanced level of understanding of our minds and our hearts.” To do this, they must be authentic. He references a 2008 Journal of Management article covering “four distinct, yet overlapping, elements”: self‐awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective. He draws on research that it was the “strongest predictor of job satisfaction for employees. It also had positive impacts on overall attitudes toward work and happiness.” He notes that it also increases employee innovation and that authentic leaders “inspired significantly higher levels of interpersonal trust between themselves and their direct reports, which also increased levels of work engagement.” He relates leadership conversations with Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Ford Motor Company, who “leveraged and implemented his “Working Together”© Principles, Practices, and Management System to drive exceptional results and high employee engagement in two of the largest and most globally recognized companies.” Dowden also outlines five leadership practices, which in his words are: #1 Show and tell people who you are and confirm with them that they see you that way. #2 Create expected behaviors. #3 Authenticity equals consistency. #4 Embrace the power of operating without a safety net. #5 Authenticity applies to context as well as people.