{"id":953,"date":"2012-02-22T08:44:15","date_gmt":"2012-02-21T22:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/knowledgetoday\/?p=953"},"modified":"2012-02-22T13:55:05","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T03:55:05","slug":"why-authentic-leadership-is-needed-in-challenging-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/blog\/2012\/02\/why-authentic-leadership-is-needed-in-challenging-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Authentic Leadership is Needed in Challenging Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Professor Chris Styles<\/strong><\/p>\n

A great deal will be written about leadership this week. But little of it will be about real leadership.\u00a0 This is a pity given the significant challenges and opportunities Australia faces.<\/p>\n

What has gone wrong?<\/p>\n

When we talk about leadership and provide examples of great leaders, we often refer to some of history\u2019s great political leaders. Whether they like it or not, politicians are seen as role models in many facets of life, including leadership.<\/p>\n

At the moment public perceptions of our political leaders are at a low ebb.\u00a0\u00a0 Irrespective of where they stand on policy issues, not many people would describe them as \u2018authentic leaders\u2019, a phrase coined by Professor Bill George of Harvard Business School. Being genuine, having a clear set of values which you put into practice, and forming a deep set of enduring relationships, are all part of authenticity.\u00a0 It leads to trust and confidence.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately there is a public perception of our current crop of politicians that they regard being a leader as the end-game in itself, rather than becoming a leader to have real impact on the community. If this is our central belief, then any policy position is seen as self-serving rather than to advance the nation. This makes it hard to bring others along with them, a critical aspect of leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a great lesson for leaders in all walks of life.\u00a0 Success is more likely to come to those who are seen as wanting to use their leadership to achieve broader goals than just their own; who communicate \u2013 good news and bad news \u2013 in ways that we can believe; whose actions support the values they espouse; and who can admit when they get it wrong or don\u2019t know the answer.\u00a0\u00a0 And who have demonstrable impact.<\/p>\n

The media in all its forms surrounds us.\u00a0 Words, phrases pictures and videos spread like wildfire.\u00a0 This has many leaders worried, and has resulted in large contingents of minders and public relations machines \u2018protecting\u2019 our leaders, whether in politics or business.\u00a0 While it\u2019s important to ensure the right (and true) message is communicated to stakeholders, this should not get in the way of leaders being \u2013 and being perceived to be \u2013 genuine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We often hear journalists say that a particular politician is nothing like the way they come across in the media.\u00a0 If nothing else, we should learn from our politicians that the first casualty of spin is authenticity.\u00a0 And that weakens the ability to lead.\u00a0 Leading a political party, a country or large corporation is hard enough.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a bad thing for leaders to remind themselves \u2013 and have others remind them \u2013 why they are there and how they got to the position they occupy.\u00a0\u00a0 They would also do well to make it clear to those doing the messaging that they should be portrayed as they are, rather than as an ideal made for media personality. Employees, customers, shareholders and voters are more likely to believe, follow and forgive the genuine article.<\/p>\n

There are also important implications for how we develop, and indeed select, leaders. Whether through coaching, mentoring or more formal development programs, those identified as potential leaders need to be made aware of what counts, and then be rewarded for delivering.\u00a0 \u00a0Those in senior leadership positions also have a responsibility need to role model the right behaviour.<\/p>\n

Given critical issues in education, productivity and indigenous issues, to name a few, that we face, let\u2019s hope the debate turns to real leadership sooner rather than later.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chris Styles<\/a> is the Deputy Dean and Director of the Australian Graduate School of Management. <\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Professor Chris Styles A great deal will be written about leadership this week. But little of it will be about real leadership.\u00a0 This is a pity given the significant challenges and opportunities Australia faces. What has gone wrong? When we talk about leadership and provide examples of great leaders, we often refer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":982,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}