Authentic Leadership- the 4 Characteristics

When looking into authentic leadership, there are 4 essential elements that need to be studied. These include self awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing and relational transparency. While there are certainly more characteristics to authentic leadership than the 4 mentioned above, these are definitely the most important to look at.

Self awareness is important, because self aware leaders understand both their strengths and their weaknesses so they are aware of how their behavior affects others. Because of this other people will automatically look at these leaders as more authentic people.
Internalized moral perspective is when leaders 'align their values with their intentions and actions'. These leaders basically put their morals first and do not give in to external distractions. Balanced processing is basically looking at both sides of an issue (positive and negative aspects) and being able to evaluate these sides before making decisions or taking action. Finally, we will look at relational transparency. This element is the focus on taking all of these previous elements and being able to communicate all of this info openly and in an honest manner.

All of these elements put together will make for a truly authentic leader. One who is honest, open, unbiased and aware of followers feelings and attitudes. Some people are born with these traits, others will be able to acquire them over time after certain situations and some will strive to be an authentic leader, but never quite make it. Here is an example:



In order to be an authentic leader, you truly have to be authentic as a person. You need to have a passion for what you do, truly care about others around you and know what you stand for as a person. If you can do all of this, people will see your authenticity and you can be a great authentic leader!