Sykes said it best. Authentic leadership is one of the most prominent aspects of being a leader. Can you relate to his statement? I know that I would not follow a leader if I did not believe in them. In fact, I can recall several times when I did not believe in a leader so I did not listen to them. For example, I did not believe in a particular president of a club on campus, and therefore I did not continue attending their meetings or helping them achieve their goals within the organization. Authentic leadership makes a difference.
There are multiple ways to define authentic leadership. Three distinct ways are interpersonal, intrapersonal and developmental. For the purpose of this blog, I would like to address the developmental definition. I chose this definition because I think that leadership can be taught, and this perspective aligns with my perspective it assumes that authentic leadership can be acquired.
Authentic leadership according to the developmental definition was explored and founded by Avolio and Gardner in 2005. It states that life events change a persons comfort zone and this challenge brings forth the person's authentic leadership ability.
What I found to be most interesting was stated in our class notes: developmental authentic leadership works similarly to Erik Erikson's epigenetic principle. The epigenetic theory postulates a bi-directional interchange with our environment and our hormones. I work at a company which provides tools to assess this bi-directional interchange. The company is called Salimetrics, they provide salivary collection supplies to researchers in order to test for the effects of particular social settings and their biological effects. Here is a link to the list of analytes that can currently be tested in saliva: http://www.salimetrics.com/analytes
Here are a few examples of the bi-directional relationship.
Acute environmental stress such as giving a presentation temporarily increases cortisol and alpha-amylase hormone levels.
Individuals with higher levels of testosterone are more inclined to engage in violent behavior when faced with social conflict.
Similarly, the developmental definition of authentic leadership has a bi-directional relationship. Challenging life events change a persons comfort zone and brings forth persons authentic leadership abilities and a persons authentic leadership abilities are brought forth when life events occur.
Rob Sykes and Steve Botham, leadership consultants recommend subordinate feedback to leaders to avoid leadership blind spots. They advise listening, self-awareness and understanding their impact on people in order to learn how to be authentic.
References
http://www.salimetrics.com/literature
Avolio, B.J., & Gardner, W.L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315-338.
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