Leadership in Challenging Times

The following article has been developed in conjunction with Samantha (Sam) Tinsley (https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sam-t-02850b17/) a superbly authentic leader and Brian Hempel (https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/brianhempel/), another naturally authentic leader. I met both studying for a Post Graduate qualification in Organisational Leadership at Sa?d Business School, Oxford University, and our shared passion for learning and leadership has helped to forge what is sure to be lifelong friendships and a support network. The views expressed below are the culmination of our exchanges on the subject and represent all our various inputs.

Introduction

It’s been a while since I last sat down and made some time to reflect and write an article and things have changed a lot over the last six months. On a personal level I have commenced a Professional Doctorate and have had to learn about research methodologies, academic writing and referencing. On a global level the whole world has been faced with an unprecedented, once in a lifetime, challenge of the Covid 19 pandemic which has meant the world has changed in ways that we could perhaps have never imagined before. 

I do not know of anyone who hasn’t been affected by the global Covid 19 pandemic, in one way or another, and it’s been fascinating observing how different leaders have handled the situation in different ways. Some initially took a relatively laissez-faire approach initially and have then had to fight hard to recover lost ground. Others were quick to act and introduced tough, but necessary, measures early and have subsequently seen the benefits of this and are able to be more proactive coming out of the situation. Others have looked around and seen what others have done and followed the lead of those with the best results. The leaders who have shone the most are those who have led the way, but in doing so connected with the people and managed to bring them on the journey with them.

As a leader myself I have been reflecting on my actions and considering the different styles of leaders in the news and what keeps coming back to me is the importance of authenticity when handling a crisis and particularly one as prolonged and so all-encompassing as this. Looking at the various theories on leadership such as skills based, trait based, situational, transformational, adaptive etc.

Authentic Leadership Theory

The leadership theory which resonates most for the current situation is the one originally put forward by Bill George (2003) of the Authentic Leader. Bill George is the former CEO of a medical device company and a Harvard Professor and introduced the notion of the authentic leader as the world of business was being rocked by some major events. A number of high profile scandals such as WorldCom and Enron had people asking if profits at all costs was the ethical way to motivate people, then the financial collapse of 2008 driven by, among other things, sub-prime mortgages deepened the view that business leadership had to change. George’s theory put forward the idea that leaders had to be authentic, they must be leaders who can be trusted and who are able to connect with their people and customers. George suggested that authentic leaders needed to score highly in five distinct areas:

• Purpose / Passion leaders must be crystal clear what the purpose of their business is and their role within it. This purpose must manifest itself in a visible passion for what they and their business does.
• Values / Behaviour they must be governed by a strong set of values that they reinforce through their behaviour, it is not enough to just tell people what your values are, you must be able to demonstrate them through your actions.
• Relationships / Connectedness an authentic leader must develop relationships with their team, customers and beyond. Without the ability to connect and build long lasting, mutually beneficial, relationships they will not be able to achieve the buy in that they need to achieve their goals.
• Self-Discipline / Consistency they must be able to maintain self-control and be consistent in their approach, linking into the values side of things, they must walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Consistency develops trust and builds relationships.
• Heart / Compassion the final area is the ability of the leader to open themselves up to others situation and understand how their leadership impacts on them. Knowing the people that they work with and being sensitive to the cultural or personal circumstances.

George postulates that these five areas are what make an authentic leader, of course there is an underlying assumption that they have the technical, product or industry knowledge that they require to be at the top of an organisation. But once you have got that knowledge, through experience, then what truly differentiates a leader are these five qualities that make them authentic (Northhouse, 2019).

There are some people who might argue that people who might point out that the first four qualities could be applied to some of the most notorious leaders in history. Could we claim that Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin etc “tick the boxes”? They all had purpose which they were incredibly passionate about, their values, albeit abhorrent to observers, were meticulously consistent with their behaviours, their relationships and connectedness to their followers is legendary – with followers willingly giving up everything in support of their leader. Self-discipline and consistency are evident – it is only when we look at “heart” and compassion that possibly could differentiate the “authentic” from the “Dictator”.

Clearly these dictators and tyrants cannot be judged as authentic leaders, except by the most fanatical of their supporters. Hitler, Mao and so on were not authentic leaders, or even leaders, but tyrants who lacked ethics, morals or accepted beliefs through a common worldview. They were public figures with positional power, there is a major difference between leadership and positional power.

It is also fair to say that a number of people who claim to be authentic leaders are in fact imitators, their desire to be recognised by followers as someone who understands and is sensitive to them actually makes their efforts or authenticity insincere and they end up adopting a box ticking approach, they try to evidence their “authenticity” and in turn they end up being the opposite, as “authentic” means “original, genuine” and definitely not a copy.

Having looked at what is and what isn’t authentic leadership it’s time to look at some examples of authentic leaders.

Examples of Authentic Leaders

Throughout my career I have worked with some great leaders, some of whom I saw as authentic but when I really look back at these leaders who have helped to shape the leader I have become, the one stumbling block I came across with most of them is their ultimate motivation was financial. Each of them was passionate, value driven, for the greater part consistent, they are well connected, and the best ones showed compassion. But the flaw in these leaders, in the context of the authentic leadership theory, was that for the most part these authentic attributes were underpinned by self-advancement and financial gain.  Don’t get me wrong we all want to do well for ourselves, but an authentic leader looks at ensuring that everyone does well for themselves and it is not just about the individual.

Take perhaps the most authentic leader of all time, Nelson Mandela, he was a man of passion who was driven by a vision which was about unification and enhancement of all South Africans. He was consistent in the way he saw this, across all groups, he connected to nearly everyone and won around his enemies over time. Over his life he shifted his position and developed a deep understanding of the many layers of philosophies, economic and political systems that existed in South Africa and using empathy and a non-judgmental mindset he set about trying to harmonise and bring about real change.

Another great example of an authentic leader is the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, very much the elder statesman of the European Union having served as the Head of State since 2005. She has led a tricky political coalition embracing the spectrum of political views, including the challenges of the downfall of communism in East Germany to extreme right-wing objections when allowing the humanitarian acceptance of refugees. Despite the strong criticisms and attacks from all angles she has achieved great progress, economic strength in absolute adversity (The fall of East Germany nearly crippled the German economy at one point). Over time, tirelessly and with much resilience and little pomp or ceremony.

For those sporting fans out there, who follow football (soccer if you’re American), Gary Neville the ex-Manchester United and England defender displays in his current persona as business entrepreneur, football club owner and TV pundit, an authentic and empathetic leadership. He ticks all the boxes (honest & straightforward, determined, resilient, relentlessly positive, innovative, globally aware etc.) And in terms of empathy and being non-judgmental, in his sports commentary he absolutely puts himself in the shoes of the other side. Many thought that when he first came to a commentator he would be biased Man United, but actually people love him now as he has proven to be an absolute expert in his field and totally non-judgmental and fair.

A Leading Example of Authentic Leadership

These are all great examples, but for a relevant and naturally authentic leader I (and many other people around the world) see the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern as the shining light of authentic leadership. She was the youngest ever female head of government at the age of 37 and became only the second head of government, in the world, to give birth whilst in office. With the birth of her daughter she also became the first ever head of government to take maternity leave, showing a clear commitment to her family as well as her country in making this brave decision. It had the effect of raising a few eyebrows in the establishment, but many more people were supportive of her decision as it showed she was ‘one of us’, someone who relished and valued family. 

Ardern, talks-the-talk, but more importantly she walks-the-walk. A shining star in the Labour Party in New Zealand, she was working campaigns for the party as a teenager, and after school she started to work as a researcher. She is a person of the community, and this is what makes her authentic. Ardern is also aware of her geopolitical boundaries. She is in tune with the majority and what the people’s needs are. When you compare her ethics and values and match them with the worldview of the people of New Zealand they are aligned. Like in any business, to have a successful leader/follower relationship, the needs and values need to be aligned. Her quick responses to the Christchurch shooting and to the COVID-19 response are proof that she is genuine and cares about the safety of her country.

As other leaders have floundered and tried to please everyone, Ms Ardern has put her people and the country first and has managed to do what most leaders elsewhere have failed to do, she has connected with them at a time when they need her the most.

• Throughout she has acted with a clear sense of purpose which has been about uniting and protecting the people of New Zealand.
• She has shown clear values as she has not bowed down to lobbyists and big business in dealing with the issues.
• Her connectedness has extended far beyond the shores of her home country and it is clear to see other world leaders are looking at what she has done and have based their own actions on hers.
• Her consistency in dealing with both the shootings and the pandemic have been superb and set an example, she lives by her values and displays the consistency and commitment to them every day.
• Compassion has been where she has truly excelled though, she has connected with her people through social media in her home setting and dressed casually, a small but very powerful way of saying ‘we are all in this together’. She led the way in taking a 20% pay cut at a time when everyone else in the country was having to do the same.

Her approach and message resonates with the people of New Zealand in a way that many other global leaders could only dream of connecting with their people. In doing this she has forged a relationship based on mutual understanding and trust. She has many standout attributes; she is socially conscious; honest and straightforward; relentlessly positive; determined; resilient; progressive; committed; uses humour appropriately; dedicated; innovative and globally aware, but what makes her truly stand is that:

• She is genuine and not simply an imitation of someone else, she knows who she is, she doesn’t pretend to be anything different than that.
• She is empathetic and displays that she truly cares about people. This is more than compassion, a compassionate person shows the ability to feel for others, an empathetic person does not just feel for another, but is able to put themselves in their shoes and understand their distress or joy.
• She is culturally sensitive, inclusive and diverse in the way that she looks at the world. She understands that different people see the world in different ways and that the key to achieving sustainable leadership is to be able to be sensitive and inclusive in her leadership.
• But above all she exudes a selflessness in her actions, an attribute put forward in the Servant Leadership theory* (Greenleaf, 1970) that emphasises the role of the leader in being driven by the needs of their followers and empowering them to reach their full potential. The theory which has been developed further sees altruistic motivations as underpinning leadership and the development of society as being a major part of this.

*There is much on this model written and Northhouse’s (2019) "Leadership: Theory and Practice" is a great starting point for anyone interested in this or other leadership theories.

Ardern is what a lot of us strive to be, and that is open, vulnerable, and not ashamed to who she is. She is an effective leader because she pulls from both intrapersonal and interpersonal processes. True authentic leadership comes from within and does not need positional power.

Taking the authentic leadership model forward

George’s model of authentic leadership is highly relevant in this day and age, at a time when the world is facing a global challenge which is unprecedented and social media is feeding us with misinformation and subversive messaging there is a desire, actually more a demand for authenticity, the world is looking for leaders that will put their followers first and be driven by altruism. People want to believe what they are being told but for them to do that they need to believe in the people that are telling them it. There is little doubt that the countries who are faring best in the current pandemic are led by heads of government that the people trust in and are prepared to listen to and put their faith in them, which is why authentic leadership is so important today. 

There are two areas where the theory on authentic leadership could be expanded, the first is the notion of selflessness, authentic leaders need to be able to show that they are putting others before themselves and the greater good of society is their number one priority. The second area is perhaps the movement of the 5th attribute from being about compassion to being about empathy, leaders need to not just be able to show they are able to understand their followers concerns, they need to be able to walk in their shoes and experience the challenges they face in order to be able to fully connect with them and act in accordance with what is the best for the majority.

By recognising selflessness and empathy as key attributes in authentic leadership the model can be moved forward to articulate the importance of connecting with followers and acting in their best interest.

Bibliography

George, B. (2003). Authentic leadership: Rediscovering the secrets to creating lasting value. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Greenleaf, R. K. (1970). The servant as leader. Westfield, IN: Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.

Northhouse, P. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th Edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage.