Being true to yourself helps people clearly understand the way you think, and what you want to achieve. But how exactly can authentic leadership be achieved? I’m your host Jeffrey Edwards, and this is the premiere episode of my podcast, The Leader’s Chair, unpacking how to be the right leader to the right people.

To help you establish a mindset of improvement, I’ll be sharing my Pillars of Authentic Leadership, along with some guiding questions you can ask yourself to assess where you are today — and how to take your leadership skills to to the next level.

Check out this episode if you want to learn:

• What it takes to be an authentic leader
• Why it’s vital to be truthful — even when it feels risky
• How to align your life with your values and principles

🎧 Listen to the podcast here:

The Pillars Of Authentic Leadership

What is authentic leadership? If we look at the definition in the dictionary, being authentic relates to an “emotionally appropriate or significant, purposeful, and responsible mode of human life.” Simply, it means being true to yourself. So: how true are you in all that you do? Can people look at you in different situations and say “that’s who you are, that’s what you represent”?

When people understand the way you think and act, and when your actions align with the person you are — that is authenticity. Yet in our day-to-day, we see leaders in the news and in our personal lives saying one thing and doing another — or perhaps acting totally differently from one situation to the next. Seeing this shakes our confidence  and our trust, and it makes it much more difficult for that person to be a leader down the road.

The great thing is that, by reading this blog, you’re looking at how you can improve as a leader. What are some of the tangible and practical steps that you could take that will not only improve your leadership mindset, but also establish your platform and influence within leadership roles?

First thing’s first: where are you at, right now, in terms of your authentic leadership? Ask yourself these questions, based on the three Pillars of Authentic Leadership.

Pillar 1: Are You Speaking Your Truth?

One key element of being a leader is that, sometimes, we have to share bad news. We have to state the facts, and while we will always do it in a respectful, purposeful way, it might not always be pleasant. Think of a situation you’ve been in where being truthful was difficult. Someone’s feelings may have been hurt, there may have been anger — maybe you even feared some people stopped liking you.

What is the cost of not being truthful? Can people trust what you say, or is there always going to be an element of doubt in the back of their mind, because they’ve seen other occasions where you may not have been as forthright?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how truthful do you feel you are (with 1 being low, and 10 being high)? What are some examples of how you show that in your everyday life?

It’s not just in the workplace or in the home — it’s the core of who you are. Ask yourself:

• How often is truthfulness a part of your daily routine?
• How would other people describe you, in terms of your truthfulness?
• Where are some areas where you could improve?

As a teenager in high school, I was in leadership roles, being in student council and various sports teams. It was sometimes hard to be an authentic leader, especially when it meant telling a friend they needed to step up. It left me with a certain discomfort, wondering, “What will they think of me? What will they say about me? How will this damage our relationship?”

I admit that sometimes, I would skirt around the truth, or make things up to ensure that I didn’t look like the ‘bad guy’. Over time, I found that it wasn’t so much about my needs — it was about getting the message out to them, so that they could be better at what they do.

By being truthful as a leader, you’re helping people improve their own lives. When you stop feeling threatened by the potential backlash of what someone will think of you for telling the truth, you can help that person increase their own leadership ability.

Authentic Leadership: Being authentic is being true to yourself.

Pillar 2: Are You Living Your Core Values & Principles?

Growing up, it was important for me to be in good shape, and I’ve always enjoyed playing sports. I have a family history of diabetes and heart ailments, so I’m always mindful that if I don’t take care of myself, I could fall to any one of those illnesses. Despite this, there have been times where it’s taken a lot of effort for me to be active, whether that’s sleeping in instead of going to the gym, or grabbing something quick from McDonald’s instead of having a healthy breakfast.

The above is a simple example — and that’s where living our core values and principles usually starts. If we’re giving ourselves leeway on the small things, what happens when bigger situations crop up? How ready or willing would we be to compromise our own core values and principles in order to achieve a result, or to gain an advantage over someone else?

We see this happening everyday; there’s no shortage of news stories about leaders who have been taken out of a corporation, organization or government because of their actions.

How close are you to living the core values and principles that define your life? How clear are you on what those core values and principles are, to begin with? From my 20-year coaching career, that’s usually the question that gets people thinking about what they believe, what they stand for, and to reflect on who they are — instead of adopting the values and principles they feel they should be holding onto.

Pillar 3: How Often Do You Keep Your Commitments?

Our third pillar to Authentic Leadership is keeping your commitments. From 0% to 100%, how often do you keep to your commitments? 50% of the time? 80%? 90%? To be completely honest with you, I sucked at this for a long time. One of the reasons why I was lousy at keeping commitments was because I overcommitted to many things. I don’t share that with a lot of pride, but I share it because I’m being truthful.

How often do you find yourself involved in so many different activities, saying yes to all people, only to realize that when you sit down and look at all what you’ve committed to doing, that there aren’t enough hours in the day, a week — let alone an entire month to get everything done?

This is one of the traps we can fall into as leaders: making a commitment because we feel like we have to. We have to say ‘yes’ because, as a leader, that’s what we are expected to do. But part of being able to keep a commitment is being truthful.

It’s all starting to connect, isn’t it? We’re being true to ourselves — and to the people around us! — when we say what we’re able to do, as well as and what we’re unable to do. We’re being truthful when we say, “Are there any opportunities to delegate a task, to develop new leaders?”

These are the three Pillars of Authentic Leadership. There are so many amazing, insightful experts out there, sharing their courses, books and stories about authentic leadership. For me, it comes down to three things:

1. Do you live your core values and your principles on a consistent basis? Do you know what those are, and what they look like in your life?
2. Are you truthful to who you are, and to the people around you?
3. How well do you keep up with your commitments? Do you keep a healthy balance, and look for opportunities to help others grow?

The more that we can ask ourselves those questions, the more we can improve in our leadership. Look at what you do, as well as what you don’t do. The more aligned we are with who we are, the more naturally authenticity can follow.

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!

Join The Leader’s Chair Community today on Facebook and Twitter.