discovering your authentic leadershipstarsystemz.com/.../04/...leadership_hbr-feb2007.pdf ·...

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hbr.org | February 2007 | Harvard Business Review 129

URING THE PAST 50 YEARS, leadership scholars have con-ducted more than 1,000 studies in an attempt to deter-mine the definitive styles, characteristics, or personality traits of great leaders. None of these studies has produced

a clear profile of the ideal leader. Thank goodness. If scholarshad produced a cookie-cutter leadership style, individuals wouldbe forever trying to imitate it. They would make themselvesinto personae, not people, and others would see through themimmediately.

No one can be authentic by trying to imitate someone else.You can learn from others’ experiences, but there is no way youcan be successful when you are trying to be like them. Peopletrust you when you are genuine and authentic, not a replica ofsomeone else. Amgen CEO and president Kevin Sharer, whogained priceless experience working as Jack Welch’s assistant in

Discovering Your Authentic LeadershipWe all have the capacity to inspire and empower others. But we must first be willing todevote ourselves to our personal growth and development as leaders.

by Bill George, Peter Sims, Andrew N. McLean, and Diana Mayer

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the 1980s, saw the downside of GE’s cultof personality in those days. “Everyonewanted to be like Jack,” he explains.“Leadership has many voices. You needto be who you are, not try to emulatesomebody else.”

Over the past five years, people havedeveloped a deep distrust of leaders.It is increasingly evident that we need a new kind of business leader in thetwenty-first century. In 2003, BillGeorge’s book, Authentic Leadership:Rediscovering the Secrets to CreatingLasting Value, challenged a new genera-tion to lead authentically. Authenticleaders demonstrate a passion for theirpurpose, practice their values consis-tently, and lead with their hearts as wellas their heads. They establish long-term,meaningful relationships and have theself-discipline to get results. They knowwho they are.

Many readers of Authentic Leader-ship, including several CEOs, indicatedthat they had a tremendous desire tobecome authentic leaders and wantedto know how. As a result, our researchteam set out to answer the question,“How can people become and remainauthentic leaders?” We interviewed 125leaders to learn how they developed

their leadership abilities. These inter-views constitute the largest in-depthstudy of leadership development everundertaken. Our interviewees discussedopenly and honestly how they realizedtheir potential and candidly shared theirlife stories, personal struggles, failures,and triumphs.

The people we talked with ranged inage from 23 to 93, with no fewer than 15per decade. They were chosen based ontheir reputations for authenticity andeffectiveness as leaders, as well as ourpersonal knowledge of them. We alsosolicited recommendations from otherleaders and academics. The resultinggroup includes women and men froma diverse array of racial, religious, andsocioeconomic backgrounds and na-tionalities. Half of them are CEOs, andthe other half comprises a range ofprofit and nonprofit leaders, midcareerleaders, and young leaders just startingon their journeys.

After interviewing these individuals,we believe we understand why morethan 1,000 studies have not produced aprofile of an ideal leader. Analyzing3,000 pages of transcripts, our team wasstartled to see that these people did notidentify any universal characteristics,traits, skills, or styles that led to theirsuccess.Rather, their leadership emergedfrom their life stories. Consciously andsubconsciously, they were constantlytesting themselves through real-worldexperiences and reframing their life sto-

ries to understand who they were attheir core. In doing so, they discoveredthe purpose of their leadership andlearned that being authentic madethem more effective.

These findings are extremely encour-aging: You do not have to be born withspecific characteristics or traits of aleader. You do not have to wait for a tap

on the shoulder. You do not have to beat the top of your organization. Instead,you can discover your potential rightnow. As one of our interviewees, Young& Rubicam chairman and CEO AnnFudge, said,“All of us have the spark ofleadership in us, whether it is in busi-ness, in government, or as a nonprofitvolunteer. The challenge is to under-stand ourselves well enough to discoverwhere we can use our leadership gifts toserve others.”

Discovering your authentic leader-ship requires a commitment to develop-ing yourself. Like musicians and ath-letes, you must devote yourself to alifetime of realizing your potential.Most people Kroger CEO David Dillonhas seen become good leaders were self-taught. Dillon said,“The advice I give toindividuals in our company is not to ex-pect the company to hand you a devel-opment plan. You need to take respon-sibility for developing yourself.”

In the following pages, we draw uponlessons from our interviews to describehow people become authentic leaders.First and most important, they frametheir life stories in ways that allow themto see themselves not as passive ob-servers of their lives but rather as indi-viduals who can develop self-awarenessfrom their experiences. Authentic lead-ers act on that awareness by practicingtheir values and principles, sometimesat substantial risk to themselves. Theyare careful to balance their motivations

130 Harvard Business Review | February 2007 | hbr.org

MANAGING YOURSELF | Discovering Your Authentic Leadership

The largest in-depth study ever under-taken on how people can become andremain authentic leaders shows that anindividual does not have to be bornwith any universal characteristics ortraits of a leader.

The journey to authentic leadershipbegins with understanding the story of your life. Most authentic leaders reported that their stories involvedovercoming difficult experiences andusing these events to give meaning totheir lives.

Authentic leaders work hard at under-standing and developing themselves.They use formal and informal supportnetworks to get honest feedback and help ground themselves. They tem-per their need for public acclaim and financial reward with strong intrinsicmotivations.

It may be possible to produce short-term outcomes without being authen-tic, but authentic leadership driveslong-term results. The integrity of au-thentic leaders helps to sustain orga-nizational results through good times and bad.

Article at a Glance

Analyzing 3,000 pages of transcripts, our team was startled to see you do not have to be born with specificcharacteristics or traits of a leader. Leadership emerges from your life story.



so that they are driven by these innervalues as much as by a desire for exter-nal rewards or recognition. Authenticleaders also keep a strong support teamaround them, ensuring that they live in-tegrated, grounded lives.

Learning from Your Life StoryThe journey to authentic leadershipbegins with understanding the story of your life. Your life story provides the context for your experiences, andthrough it, you can find the inspirationto make an impact in the world. As thenovelist John Barth once wrote, “The

story of your life is not your life. It isyour story.” In other words, it is yourpersonal narrative that matters, not themere facts of your life. Your life narra-tive is like a permanent recording play-ing in your head. Over and over, you replay the events and personal interac-tions that are important to your life, at-tempting to make sense of them to findyour place in the world.

While the life stories of authenticleaders cover the full spectrum of expe-riences – including the positive impactof parents, athletic coaches, teachers,and mentors – many leaders reportedthat their motivation came from a diffi-

cult experience in their lives. They de-scribed the transformative effects ofthe loss of a job; personal illness; theuntimely death of a close friend or rel-ative; and feelings of being excluded,discriminated against, and rejected bypeers. Rather than seeing themselvesas victims, though, authentic leadersused these formative experiences togive meaning to their lives. They re-framed these events to rise above theirchallenges and to discover their passionto lead.

Let’s focus now on one leader in par-ticular, Novartis chairman and CEODaniel Vasella, whose life story was oneof the most difficult of all the peoplewe interviewed. He emerged from ex-treme challenges in his youth to reachthe pinnacle of the global pharmaceuti-cal industry, a trajectory that illustratesthe trials many leaders have to gothrough on their journeys to authenticleadership.

Vasella was born in 1953 to a modestfamily in Fribourg, Switzerland. Hisearly years were filled with medicalproblems that stoked his passion to be-come a physician. His first recollectionswere of a hospital where he was admit-ted at age four when he suffered fromfood poisoning. Falling ill with asthmaat age five, he was sent alone to themountains of eastern Switzerland fortwo summers. He found the four-monthseparations from his parents especiallydifficult because his caretaker had analcohol problem and was unresponsiveto his needs.

At age eight, Vasella had tuberculo-sis, followed by meningitis, and was sentto a sanatorium for a year. Lonely andhomesick, he suffered a great deal thatyear, as his parents rarely visited him.He still remembers the pain and fearwhen the nurses held him down duringthe lumbar punctures so that he wouldnot move. One day, a new physician ar-rived and took time to explain each stepof the procedure. Vasella asked thedoctor if he could hold a nurse’s handrather than being held down. “Theamazing thing is that this time theprocedure didn’t hurt,” Vasella recalls.

Bill George, the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, is a professor of management prac-tice at Harvard Business School in Boston. Peter Sims established “Leadership Perspectives,”a class on leadership development at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in California.Andrew N. McLean is a research associate at Harvard Business School. Diana Mayer is a for-mer Citigroup executive in New York. This article was adapted from True North: Discover YourAuthentic Leadership by Bill George with Peter Sims (Jossey-Bass, forthcoming in March 2007).

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“Afterward, the doctor asked me, ‘Howwas that?’ I reached up and gave him abig hug. These human gestures of for-giveness, caring, and compassion madea deep impression on me and on thekind of person I wanted to become.”

Throughout his early years, Vasella’slife continued to be unsettled. When hewas ten, his 18-year-old sister passedaway after suffering from cancer fortwo years. Three years later, his fatherdied in surgery. To support the family,his mother went to work in a distanttown and came home only once everythree weeks. Left to himself, he and hisfriends held beer parties and got into

frequent fights. This lasted for threeyears until he met his first girlfriend,whose affection changed his life.

At 20, Vasella entered medicalschool, later graduating with honors.During medical school, he sought outpsychotherapy so he could come toterms with his early experiences andnot feel like a victim. Through analysis,he reframed his life story and realizedthat he wanted to help a wider range ofpeople than he could as an individualpractitioner. Upon completion of hisresidency, he applied to become chiefphysician at the University of Zurich;however, the search committee consid-ered him too young for the position.

Disappointed but not surprised,Vasella decided to use his abilities to in-crease his impact on medicine. At thattime, he had a growing fascination withfinance and business. He talked with thehead of the pharmaceutical division ofSandoz, who offered him the opportu-nity to join the company’s U.S. affiliate.In his five years in the United States,Vasella flourished in the stimulatingenvironment, first as a sales representa-tive and later as a product manager, and

advanced rapidly through the Sandozmarketing organization.

When Sandoz merged with Ciba-Geigy in 1996, Vasella was named CEOof the combined companies, now calledNovartis, despite his young age andlimited experience. Once in the CEO’srole, Vasella blossomed as a leader. Heenvisioned the opportunity to build agreat global health care company thatcould help people through lifesavingnew drugs, such as Gleevec, which hasproved to be highly effective for pa-tients with chronic myeloid leukemia.Drawing on the physician role modelsof his youth, he built an entirely new

Novartis culture centered on compas-sion, competence, and competition.These moves established Novartis as agiant in the industry and Vasella as a compassionate leader.

Vasella’s experience is just one ofdozens provided by authentic leaderswho traced their inspiration directlyfrom their life stories. Asked what em-powered them to lead, these leadersconsistently replied that they foundtheir strength through transformativeexperiences. Those experiences enabledthem to understand the deeper purposeof their leadership.

Knowing Your Authentic SelfWhen the 75 members of StanfordGraduate School of Business’s AdvisoryCouncil were asked to recommend themost important capability for leaders todevelop, their answer was nearly unan-imous: self-awareness. Yet many lead-ers, especially those early in their ca-reers, are trying so hard to establishthemselves in the world that they leavelittle time for self-exploration. Theystrive to achieve success in tangible

When the 75 members of Stanford Graduate School ofBusiness’s Advisory Council were asked to recommend themost important capability for leaders to develop, theiranswer was nearly unanimous: self-awareness.



ways that are recognized in the externalworld–money, fame, power, status, or arising stock price. Often their drive en-ables them to be professionally success-ful for a while, but they are unable tosustain that success. As they age, theymay find something is missing in theirlives and realize they are holding backfrom being the person they want to be.Knowing their authentic selves requiresthe courage and honesty to open upand examine their experiences. As theydo so, leaders become more humaneand willing to be vulnerable.

Of all the leaders we interviewed,David Pottruck, former CEO of CharlesSchwab, had one of the most persis-tent journeys to self-awareness. An all-league football player in high school,Pottruck became MVP of his collegeteam at the University of Pennsylvania.After completing his MBA at Wharton

and a stint with Citigroup, he joinedCharles Schwab as head of marketing,moving from New York to San Francisco.An extremely hard worker, Pottruckcould not understand why his new col-leagues resented the long hours he putin and his aggressiveness in pushing forresults.“I thought my accomplishmentswould speak for themselves,”he said.“Itnever occurred to me that my level ofenergy would intimidate and offendother people, because in my mind I wastrying to help the company.”

Pottruck was shocked when his bosstold him,“Dave, your colleagues do nottrust you.” As he recalled, “That feed-back was like a dagger to my heart. I wasin denial, as I didn’t see myself as otherssaw me. I became a lightning rod for fric-tion, but I had no idea how self-servingI looked to other people. Still, some-where in my inner core the feedback

resonated as true.” Pottruck realizedthat he could not succeed unless heidentified and overcame his blind spots.

Denial can be the greatest hurdlethat leaders face in becoming self-aware. They all have egos that need tobe stroked, insecurities that need to besmoothed, fears that need to be allayed.Authentic leaders realize that they haveto be willing to listen to feedback–espe-cially the kind they don’t want to hear.It was only after his second divorce thatPottruck finally was able to acknowl-edge that he still had large blind spots:“After my second marriage fell apart,I thought I had a wife-selection prob-lem.” Then he worked with a counselorwho delivered some hard truths: “Thegood news is you do not have a wife-selection problem; the bad news is youhave a husband-behavior problem.”Pottruck then made a determined ef-fort to change. As he described it,“I waslike a guy who has had three heart at-tacks and finally realizes he has to quitsmoking and lose some weight.”

These days Pottruck is happily re-married and listens carefully when hiswife offers constructive feedback. He ac-knowledges that he falls back on his oldhabits at times,particularly in high stresssituations, but now he has developedways of coping with stress. “I have hadenough success in life to have that foun-dation of self-respect, so I can take thecriticism and not deny it. I have finallylearned to tolerate my failures and dis-appointments and not beat myself up.”

Practicing Your Values andPrinciplesThe values that form the basis for au-thentic leadership are derived fromyour beliefs and convictions, but youwill not know what your true values areuntil they are tested under pressure. It isrelatively easy to list your values and tolive by them when things are goingwell. When your success, your career, oreven your life hangs in the balance,you learn what is most important, whatyou are prepared to sacrifice, and whattrade-offs you are willing to make.

YOUR DEVELOPMENT AS AN AUTHENTIC LEADER

As you read this article, think about the basis for your leadership developmentand the path you need to follow to become an authentic leader. Then ask your-self these questions:

1. Which people and experiences in your early life had the greatest impacton you?

2. What tools do you use to become self-aware? What is your authentic self?What are the moments when you say to yourself, this is the real me?

3. What are your most deeply held values? Where did they come from? Haveyour values changed significantly since your childhood? How do your valuesinform your actions?

4. What motivates you extrinsically?What are your intrinsic motivations? Howdo you balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in your life?

5. What kind of support team do you have? How can your support team makeyou a more authentic leader? How should you diversify your team to broadenyour perspective?

6. Is your life integrated? Are you able to be the same person in all aspects of yourlife – personal, work, family, and community? If not, what is holding you back?

7. What does being authentic mean in your life? Are you more effective as aleader when you behave authentically? Have you ever paid a price for your au-thenticity as a leader? Was it worth it?

8. What steps can you take today, tomorrow, and over the next year to de-velop your authentic leadership?

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Leadership principles are valuestranslated into action. Having a solidbase of values and testing them underfire enables you to develop the princi-ples you will use in leading. For exam-ple, a value such as “concern for others”

might be translated into a leadershipprinciple such as “create a work envi-ronment where people are respectedfor their contributions, provided jobsecurity, and allowed to fulfill their potential.”

Consider Jon Huntsman, the founderand chairman of Huntsman Corpora-tion. His moral values were deeply chal-lenged when he worked for the Nixonadministration in 1972, shortly beforeWatergate. After a brief stint in the U.S.Department of Health, Education, andWelfare (HEW), he took a job underH.R. Haldeman, President Nixon’s pow-erful chief of staff. Huntsman said hefound the experience of taking ordersfrom Haldeman “very mixed. I wasn’tgeared to take orders, irrespective ofwhether they were ethically or morallyright.” He explained, “We had a fewclashes, as plenty of things that Halde-man wanted to do were questionable.An amoral atmosphere permeated theWhite House.”

One day, Haldeman directed Hunts-man to help him entrap a Californiacongressman who had been opposinga White House initiative. The congress-man was part owner of a plant that reportedly employed undocumentedworkers. To gather information to em-barrass the congressman, Haldemantold Huntsman to get the plant man-ager of a company Huntsman owned toplace some undocumented workers atthe congressman’s plant in an under-cover operation.

“There are times when we react tooquickly and fail to realize immediately

what is right and wrong,” Huntsman re-called. “This was one of those timeswhen I didn’t think it through. I knewinstinctively it was wrong, but it took afew minutes for the notion to percolate.After 15 minutes, my inner moral com-pass made itself noticed and enabledme to recognize this wasn’t the rightthing to do. Values that had accompa-nied me since childhood kicked in.Halfway through my conversation withour plant manager, I said to him, ‘Let’snot do this. I don’t want to play thisgame. Forget that I called.’”

Huntsman told Haldeman that hewould not use his employees in thisway.“Here I was saying no to the secondmost powerful person in the country.He didn’t appreciate responses likethat, as he viewed them as signs of dis-loyalty. I might as well have been sayingfarewell. So be it. I left within the nextsix months.”

Balancing Your Extrinsic andIntrinsic MotivationsBecause authentic leaders need to sus-tain high levels of motivation and keeptheir lives in balance, it is critically im-portant for them to understand whatdrives them. There are two types of mo-tivations – extrinsic and intrinsic. Al-though they are reluctant to admit it,many leaders are propelled to achieveby measuring their success against theoutside world’s parameters. They enjoythe recognition and status that comewith promotions and financial rewards.Intrinsic motivations,on the other hand,are derived from their sense of themeaning of their life. They are closelylinked to one’s life story and the wayone frames it. Examples include per-sonal growth, helping other people de-velop, taking on social causes, and mak-ing a difference in the world. The key isto find a balance between your desiresfor external validation and the intrinsicmotivations that provide fulfillment inyour work.

Many interviewees advised aspiringleaders to be wary of getting caught upin social, peer, or parental expectations.

Denial can be the greatesthurdle that leaders face inbecoming self-aware.



Debra Dunn, who has worked in SiliconValley for decades as a Hewlett-Packardexecutive, acknowledged the constantpressures from external sources: “Thepath of accumulating material posses-sions is clearly laid out. You know howto measure it. If you don’t pursue thatpath, people wonder what is wrongwith you. The only way to avoid gettingcaught up in materialism is to under-stand where you find happiness andfulfillment.”

Moving away from the external vali-dation of personal achievement is notalways easy. Achievement-oriented lead-ers grow so accustomed to successive ac-complishments throughout their earlyyears that it takes courage to pursuetheir intrinsic motivations. But at somepoint, most leaders recognize that theyneed to address more difficult ques-tions in order to pursue truly meaning-ful success. McKinsey’s Alice Wood-wark, who at 29 has already achievednotable success, reflected: “My versionof achievement was pretty naive, bornof things I learned early in life aboutpraise and being valued. But if you’rejust chasing the rabbit around thecourse, you’re not running toward any-thing meaningful.”

Intrinsic motivations are congruentwith your values and are more fulfillingthan extrinsic motivations. John Thain,CEO of the New York Stock Exchange,said, “I am motivated by doing a reallygood job at whatever I am doing, but Iprefer to multiply my impact on societythrough a group of people.” Or as AnnMoore, chairman and CEO of Time, putit, “I came here 25 years ago solely be-cause I loved magazines and the pub-lishing world.” Moore had a dozen joboffers after business school but took thelowest-paying one with Time because ofher passion for publishing.

Building Your Support TeamLeaders cannot succeed on their own;even the most outwardly confident ex-ecutives need support and advice. With-out strong relationships to provide per-spective, it is very easy to lose your way.

Authentic leaders build extraordi-nary support teams to help them stayon course. Those teams counsel them intimes of uncertainty, help them in timesof difficulty, and celebrate with them intimes of success. After their hardestdays, leaders find comfort in being withpeople on whom they can rely so theycan be open and vulnerable. During thelow points, they cherish the friends whoappreciate them for who they are, notwhat they are. Authentic leaders findthat their support teams provide affir-mation, advice, perspective, and callsfor course corrections when needed.

How do you go about building yoursupport team? Most authentic leadershave a multifaceted support structure

that includes their spouses or signifi-cant others, families, mentors, closefriends, and colleagues. They build theirnetworks over time, as the experiences,shared histories, and openness withpeople close to them create the trustand confidence they need in times oftrial and uncertainty. Leaders must giveas much to their supporters as they getfrom them so that mutually beneficialrelationships can develop.

It starts with having at least one per-son in your life with whom you can becompletely yourself, warts and all, andstill be accepted unconditionally. Oftenthat person is the only one who can tellyou the honest truth. Most leaders havetheir closest relationships with theirspouses, although some develop thesebonds with another family member, aclose friend, or a trusted mentor. Whenleaders can rely on unconditional sup-port, they are more likely to acceptthemselves for who they really are.

Many relationships grow over timethrough an expression of shared values

and a common purpose. Randy Komi-sar of venture capital firm KleinerPerkins Caufield & Byers said his marriage to Hewlett-Packard’s DebraDunn is lasting because it is rooted insimilar values.“Debra and I are very in-dependent but extremely harmoniousin terms of our personal aspirations, val-ues, and principles. We have a strongresonance around questions like, ‘Whatis your legacy in this world?’ It is impor-tant to be in sync about what we dowith our lives.”

Many leaders have had a mentorwho changed their lives. The best men-toring interactions spark mutual learn-ing, exploration of similar values, andshared enjoyment. If people are onlylooking for a leg up from their mentors,instead of being interested in theirmentors’ lives as well, the relation-ships will not last for long. It is the two-way nature of the connection that sus-tains it.

Personal and professional supportgroups can take many forms. Piper Jaf-fray’s Tad Piper is a member of an Alco-holics Anonymous group. He noted,“These are not CEOs. They are just agroup of nice, hard-working people whoare trying to stay sober, lead good lives,and work with each other about beingopen, honest, and vulnerable. We rein-force each other’s behavior by talkingabout our chemical dependency in adisciplined way as we go through the 12steps. I feel blessed to be surrounded bypeople who are thinking about thosekinds of issues and actually doing some-thing, not just talking about them.”

Bill George’s experiences echo Piper’s:In 1974, he joined a men’s group thatformed after a weekend retreat. Morethan 30 years later, the group is stillmeeting every Wednesday morning.After an opening period of catching upon each other’s lives and dealing withany particular difficulty someone maybe facing, one of the group’s eightmembers leads a discussion on a topiche has selected. These discussions areopen, probing, and often profound. Thekey to their success is that people saywhat they really believe without fear

Think of your life as a house.Can you knock down thewalls between the roomsand be the same person ineach of them?

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of judgment, criticism, or reprisal. Allthe members consider the group to beone of the most important aspects oftheir lives, enabling them to clarifytheir beliefs, values, and understandingof vital issues, as well as serving as asource of honest feedback when theyneed it most.

Integrating Your Life by StayingGroundedIntegrating their lives is one of thegreatest challenges leaders face. To leada balanced life, you need to bring to-gether all of its constituent elements –work, family, community, and friends –so that you can be the same person ineach environment. Think of your life asa house, with a bedroom for your per-sonal life, a study for your professionallife, a family room for your family, anda living room to share with your friends.Can you knock down the walls betweenthese rooms and be the same person ineach of them?

As John Donahoe, president of eBayMarketplaces and former worldwidemanaging director of Bain, stressed,being authentic means maintaining asense of self no matter where you are.He warned,“The world can shape you ifyou let it. To have a sense of yourself as you live, you must make consciouschoices. Sometimes the choices arereally hard, and you make a lot of mistakes.”

Authentic leaders have a steady andconfident presence. They do not showup as one person one day and anotherperson the next. Integration takes disci-pline, particularly during stressful timeswhen it is easy to become reactive andslip back into bad habits. Donahoe feelsstrongly that integrating his life hasenabled him to become a more effec-tive leader. “There is no nirvana,” hesaid. “The struggle is constant, as thetrade-offs don’t get any easier as youget older.” But for authentic leaders,personal and professional lives are nota zero-sum game. As Donahoe said,“I have no doubt today that my chil-dren have made me a far more effec-

tive leader in the workplace. Having a strong personal life has made the difference.”

Leading is high-stress work. There isno way to avoid stress when you are re-sponsible for people, organizations, out-comes, and managing the constant un-certainties of the environment. Thehigher you go, the greater your freedomto control your destiny but also thehigher the degree of stress. The ques-tion is not whether you can avoid stressbut how you can control it to maintainyour own sense of equilibrium.

Authentic leaders are constantlyaware of the importance of stayinggrounded. Besides spending time withtheir families and close friends, authen-tic leaders get physical exercise, engagein spiritual practices, do community ser-vice, and return to the places wherethey grew up. All are essential to theireffectiveness as leaders, enabling themto sustain their authenticity.

Empowering People to LeadNow that we have discussed the processof discovering your authentic leader-ship, let’s look at how authentic leadersempower people in their organizationsto achieve superior long-term results,which is the bottom line for all leaders.

Authentic leaders recognize thatleadership is not about their success orabout getting loyal subordinates to fol-low them. They know the key to a suc-cessful organization is having empow-ered leaders at all levels, including thosewho have no direct reports. They notonly inspire those around them, theyempower those individuals to step upand lead.

A reputation for building relation-ships and empowering people was in-strumental in chairman and CEO AnneMulcahy’s stunning turnaround ofXerox. When Mulcahy was asked to takethe company’s reins from her failedpredecessor, Xerox had $18 billion indebt,and all credit lines were exhausted.With the share price in free fall, moralewas at an all-time low. To make mat-ters worse, the SEC was investigating

the company’s revenue recognitionpractices.

Mulcahy’s appointment came as a surprise to everyone – including Mulcahy herself. A Xerox veteran, shehad worked in field sales and on thecorporate staff for 25 years, but not infinance, R&D, or manufacturing. Howcould Mulcahy cope with this crisiswhen she had had no financial experi-ence? She brought to the CEO role the relationships she had built over 25 years, an impeccable understandingof the organization, and, above all, hercredibility as an authentic leader. Shebled for Xerox, and everyone knew it.Because of that, they were willing to gothe extra mile for her.

After her appointment, Mulcahy metpersonally with the company’s top 100executives to ask them if they wouldstay with the company despite the chal-lenges ahead. “I knew there were peo-ple who weren’t supportive of me,” shesaid.“So I confronted a couple of themand said, ‘This is about the company.’”The first two people Mulcahy talkedwith, both of whom ran big operating

units, decided to leave, but the remain-ing 98 committed to stay.

Throughout the crisis, people inXerox were empowered by Mulcahy tostep up and lead in order to restore thecompany to its former greatness. Inthe end, her leadership enabled Xeroxto avoid bankruptcy as she paid back$10 billion in debt and restored revenue

growth and profitability with a combi-nation of cost savings and innovativenew products. The stock price tripled asa result.

• • •

Like Mulcahy, all leaders have to deliverbottom-line results. By creating a virtu-ous circle in which the results reinforcethe effectiveness of their leadership, au-thentic leaders are able to sustain those



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results through good times and bad.Their success enables them to attracttalented people and align employees’activities with shared goals, as they em-power others on their team to lead bytaking on greater challenges. Indeed, su-perior results over a sustained period oftime is the ultimate mark of an authen-tic leader. It may be possible to driveshort-term outcomes without being au-thentic, but authentic leadership is theonly way we know to create sustainablelong-term results.

For authentic leaders, there are spe-cial rewards. No individual achieve-ment can equal the pleasure of leadinga group of people to achieve a worthygoal. When you cross the finish line to-gether, all the pain and suffering youmay have experienced quickly vanishes.It is replaced by a deep inner satisfac-tion that you have empowered othersand thus made the world a better place.That’s the challenge and the fulfillmentof authentic leadership.

Reprint R0702HTo order, see page 158.

Superior results over asustained period of time isthe ultimate mark of anauthentic leader.

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