The Compass Under the Word “Authentic”
We tell leaders to be authentic as if the meaning were obvious, and then we quietly hand them the wrong definition of it. The definition most people are carrying is sameness: be the exact same person, saying the exact same thing, in the exact same way, to every audience, so no one can ever call you a fake. It sounds like integrity. It is actually a trap, and it is one of the most common places I watch capable leaders get stuck.