Understanding Authentic Leadership

Kattie Sadd
Jan 22
4 min read

Hey there! I'm excited to get back into blogging, and to share with everyone some of the communication concepts and theories I've been learning as a graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Today I am sharing what I've learned thus far about authentic leadership from this week's assigned readings, podcasts, and powerpoint presentations. I hope you enjoy this post and perhaps learn something new from it!

Introduction to Authentic Leadership

When I think back a few years ago to when I first read about positive psychology, I can distinctly remember a 'buzz' around the word 'authentic'.

It seemed like every other social media influencer I followed, was preaching about being 'authentic'. However, I never actually stopped to think about what authenticity really was; or how it impacts the way a person chooses to lead. After reading this week's materials, I have a much better idea of just how much work goes into being an authentic leader and how important it is for so many aspects of life.

Authentic leadership is a relatively new communication theory that is still being studied and expanded upon today. At the core of authentic leadership, as I understand it so far, is that a leader must not only have a strong moral compass and high ethical standards, but follow, practice, and abide by this compass and these core beliefs in their everyday actions.

Core Concepts Supporting Authentic Leadership

Sarkaria (2018) explains how authentic leadership "compels leaders to hold high ethical standards for their own behavior" and continues to describe this leadership style by stating that "authentic leaders must be self-aware, practice balanced processing, maintain a personalized moral perspective, and seek to be transparent in their relationships with others" (Sarkaria, 2018, p. 242). It is these four core concepts that help us better define and understand authentic leadership.

Self-Awareness

- Recognition of one’s values, emotions, and motivations.

- Impact of self-awareness on decision-making and trust.

Internalized Moral Perspective

- Alignment of actions with personal and societal values.

- The role of ethics in guiding leadership behavior.

Balanced Processing

- The ability to objectively analyze all relevant information before making decisions.

- Encouragement of open dialogue and consideration of diverse viewpoints.

Relational Transparency

- Openness in sharing feelings, beliefs, and even faults with followers.

- Building trust through honesty and ethical communication.

Authentic Leadership is Beyond Being Yourself

Although one of the aspects of being an authentic leader is being yourself, one thing I learned this week is that it takes more than just that. Being an authentic leader takes hard work, clearly defined beliefs, and commitment to follow through and lead by example.

An authentic leader doesn't just claim to have these positive attributes when it comes to leading. They must actually deliver on their word, and show their followers that they are who they say that they are.

The podcast this week with Brené Brown and former President Barack Obama was very insightful. It shed light on the hard work that goes into being an authentic leader.

I learned a great deal about how leaders listen to others before making major decisions, that progress sometimes happens in zigzags, and that authentic leaders are the first to admit that they don't know everything!

They also discussed vulnerability, being open and honest even amidst failure, and how sometimes leaders have to focus on making better decisions, not perfect decisions. If you haven't yet listened to this podcast episode, I highly recommend it.

Personal Assessment of Authentic Leadership

Although I have a lot more to learn about authentic leadership, some of the things that have resonated with me the most about this theory are that an authentic leader listens to others, they admit their faults and learn from them, they inspire their followers by leading by example, and they understand that there is a constant pursuit of knowledge and growth that is necessary for a leader to continue developing their skills.

The authentic leadership self-assessment was a fun experiment and gave me a better understanding of myself as an authentic leader. I scored the highest in self-awareness (16) and balanced processing (17), I scored lower in the relational transparency (15) and internalized moral perspective (15). I am not surprised by these results, as I do agree I have a strong sense of self-awareness, but I do feel as if I'm still growing and learning and developing the strong moral compass I wish to live by.

Overall, I enjoyed this leadership test and now have a better idea of what I can work on to continue leading as authentically as I possibly can! Here is a PDF of this self-assessment to gain a better understanding of the questions asked.

That's it for now on authentic leadership! Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed this post, and I look forward to expanding my knowledge on leadership communication theory throughout this semester.