From Achilles Heel to Superpower

Showing up Authentically in Leadership

From Achilles Heel to Superpower: Showing up Authentically in Leadership

At Cressy Leadership we do impactful work with our clients, and our vision is to expand this impact to a broader audience. Thus, we created “The Leadership Academy” blog.

The purpose of this blog is to share thoughts and resources to help people become better leaders, and the foundation of our approach is Authentic Leadership.

We define Authentic Leadership as:

Knowing yourself and leading in alignment with this self-knowledge.

This definition evolved out of our work as coaches and trainers and through our natural inclination to be continual learners who are always reading, discerning, discussing, and applying what we learn.

In his book, “True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership,” author and business icon Bill George describes authentic leaders as:

“…people who are true to themselves and what they believe in. They engender trust and develop genuine connections with others.”

George also discusses the importance of knowing yourself and continuing to develop as a leader:

“First, you have to understand yourself… Second, to be an effective leader, you must take responsibility for your own development.”

As I was reflecting on the topic of authentic leadership a CEO I coached for several years came to mind. This leader is a prime example of the transformational power of authentic leadership.

When we began our work together, he avoided giving negative feedback. He valued maintaining positive relationships and conflict was uncomfortable for him. He relied on another leader in the organization to be the “heavy” and handle difficult conversations.

Through coaching he recognized this was not a viable long-term strategy. He learned effective feedback methods and he gained awareness about the strengths he could bring forward to make challenging conversations easier.

What was once his Achilles heel is now one of his superpowers. He steps into difficult conversations with honesty and transparency. He brings compassion and clarity to achieve win/win outcomes for employees and the company. This skill has saved valuable employees, improved productivity for the company, and led to better role-fit and higher employee engagement.

There are several qualities of authentic leadership in this example:

The leader was willing to admit his weakness and stretch out of his comfort zone to build a new skill.

He learned about his strengths and how to bring them forward more intentionally.

He grew his capacity to have conversations that were aligned with his core values.

And these conversations, while difficult, certainly served to build more trust with employees.

These qualities of authentic leadership aren’t simply innate, they can and should be learned, then practiced. Our recent blogs offer valuable resources for you to do just that:

o   Clarify your core values

o   Take assessments to understand your strengths and your saboteurs

o   Define your purpose/Why

o   Cast your long-term vision with a “Wouldn’t it be great if…” list

o   Hire a guide on the side to support you

o   Give feedback effectively - stay tuned for our next blog post!

o   Read True North and complete the guidebook

Bottom Line: Commit to one action step this week to grow yourself as an authentic leader.