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AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP
Are leaders born or made? Have you ever been the leader in a group? Did you like it?
Being a leader is held to display attitudes and actions among people and influence them in
order to reach the goals. Some of them are authentic leaders, level 5 leaders or servant
leaders; being the first one I like the most. Through this essay I discuss about three main
points. First of all, I talk about what authentic leadership is. Then I move on to its aspects.
Lastly, I explain why I picked up and chose it as the leadership I prefer.
According to Oxford Dictionary authentic is defined as “of undisputed origin and not a
copy; genuine” and leadership as “the action of leading a group of people or an organization,
or the ability to do this”. Therefore, we can summarize it in few words, authentic leadership
is the ability to empower as well as inspire others while being real/genuine. An authentic
leadership is aware of who they are and what they believe in, whose decisions along with
actions are based on the beliefs as well as values they have which give rise to people having
faith in them. Furthermore, authentic leadership is believe to be related to engagement, It
means, authentic leaders must portrays self-confidence, competence together with self-
awareness so their employees get into a confortable environment in which they trust, like its
leader and are willing to work with him.
Being an authentic leader nowadays is such competitive and intricate as well that’s why,
authentic leadership requires key skills to become one. There are main components that make
up an authentic leadership, some of which are: Exhibiting self-discipline; they are very
cautious when making decisions and taking risks, whenever they make mistakes they admit
it.
• Displaying influence: Real leaders are contagious and positive so people follow this
path and move them to act.
• Demonstrating initiative: Real leaders don-t demonstrate fear, on the other hand, they
are the one who go for it setting an example for their followers, they simply don’t let
the fear hold them back.
• Manifesting solid values: Real leaders convey their beliefs and morals leading to its
action mainly based on values shared with the organization’s members. In an essence,
this is the foundation of authentic leadership.
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• Most importantly leading with the heart as well as the head: Real leaders lead their
team with courage and empathy that only comes having compassion even though they
have to make rough choices.
As a human being I truly believe in someone who is able to put these all characteristics
together to turn into authentic leader.
Let me place a clear-cut example, my parents, who are both owners of business and have
been working within this field over 20 years, have been also leaders of those. While growing
up in this atmosphere and working with them enabled me to realize how leaderships system
can work out efficiently. First of all, both of them are very optimistic and positive, each new
day they arrive at the company smiling widely waving all the employees and telling them
“Today is a new day”. In addition, they always talk truth. Speaking truth is about being clear,
being honest and being authentic. Moreover, both are considered to be courageous people,
they do not focus on what is easy, but what is right. Lastly, They encourage employees, my
parents always make the employees to believe in themselves and believe its work within the
company is such important to success, promoting both individual and team performance are
really valuable. Nevertheless, anything is perfect either easy. During their career they have
faced tricky problems, many not easy-going employees, some complains about the exit hour
(specially during Christmas) they managed to work it out by being transparent and being
creative. I do not really know where to place them as a leadership but to me they seem to be
authentic leaders.
As we have seen, authentic leadership can be viewed from many perspectives, It suggests,
as the word itself says, it is more realistic to describe a person as being more or less
authentic. I do recognize what takes to become authentic leadership, I am also aware that
becoming a leader takes a lifetime of personal growth. Thus, this form of leadership comes
from your being and the person that you are.
Maria Lissette Plaza Aguilar 201503750
Rebecca Neh Delancey
Business Management. Thursday 456
