The following is an essay that Renee submitted to Professor David Wyman at USD’s School of Business.  In her essay she articulates the rewards of authentic leadership.

The essential element of leadership is, “authentic self expression that creates value.” In quoting Kevin Cashman, Mitch Simon introduced us to his view of leadership and commitment to self. 

According to Mitch Simon, leadership education does not exist.  Education begins in your head and that is not where leaders are; leadership is a heart and body thing.  Leaders develop people and create vision.  However, in order to grow others you cannot teach them anything, the way you change them is by touching their heart through being authentic.

The most important concept I took away from this presentation was the idea of authenticity, it is so simple, yet so hard to accomplish.  Authenticity, as we defined it as a class, was being real, truthful, unique, genuine, courageous, respecting, and honest.  Authenticity is so pure and easy that it becomes difficult to many and it rarely ends up happening. 

People are not as fragile as we think they are, yet we do not have the courage to be brutally honest with them.  Leaders are not there to be liked but to be respected, and in order to get that respect one must be truthful even if it will hurt people’s feelings.  Great leaders love themselves and are real with themselves, they know exactly who they are, what they want, and how to achieve it. 

Extraordinary results require authenticity.  To be authentic one must be brutal and have unbridled honesty with others.  You must be able to uncover unstated commitments, realize the impact of unstated commitments, and commit to yourself and others.  Being an inauthentic person is not right or wrong; it is just inauthentic and does not produce results.

It so easy these days to conform and to make sure that every action you take is the politically correct one or the most accepted one.  It can be so scary to be truthful to others, especially because we have been conditioned our entire lives to get along with everyone.  By being authentic I will be able to gain respect from my peers, be different from everyone else, and hopefully I will be able to answer the dreadful question “what do I want.”

I asked Mitch Simon, “Don’t you need to be inauthentic at times in order to make it to a point in your career where you can be authentic, for example a CEO.”  I was under the assumption that agreeing with your boss’s ideas instead of being authentic and brutal with him would help to move you up the corporate ladder more quickly. 

Mitch Simon told the class that honesty is extremely rare in a worker.  A boss will recognize you for being authentic and value that characteristic over being fake and aiming to please him or her constantly.  Most importantly, the biggest reason to be authentic in the workplace:

Your happiness, your success, and your life are at stake when you are not authentic.

As you lead during this month of May, ask yourself:

Am I being authentic?

Am I expressing myself fully?

If I placed no limits on how I expressed myself, what extraordinary results might I achieve?

Have a great month as you create the extraordinary!