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Discovering Your Authentic Leadership
Your Development as an Authentic Leader
As you read this article, think about the tions? How do you balance extrinsic
basis for your leadership development
and the path you need to follow to be-
come an authentic leader. Then ask
yourself these questions:
1. Which people and experiences in
your early life had the greatest impact
on 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?
Have your values changed significantly
since your childhood? How do your val-
ues inform your actions?
4. What motivates you extrinsi-
cally? What are your intrinsic motiva-
harvard business review • hbr.org • february 2007
tionable. An amoral atmosphere permeated
the White House.”
One day, Haldeman directed Huntsman to
help him entrap a California congressman who
had been opposing a White House initiative.
The congressman was part owner of a plant
that reportedly employed undocumented
workers. To gather information to embarrass
the congressman, Haldeman told Huntsman to
get the plant manager of a company Hunts-
man owned to place some undocumented
workers at the congressman’s plant in an un-
dercover operation.
“There are times when we react too quickly
and fail to realize immediately what is right
and wrong,” Huntsman recalled. “This was one
of those times when I didn’t think it through. I
knew instinctively it was wrong, but it took a
few minutes for the notion to percolate. After
15 minutes, my inner moral compass made it-
self noticed and enabled me to recognize this
wasn’t the right thing to do. Values that had ac-
companied me since childhood kicked in. Half-
way through my conversation with our plant
manager, I said to him, ‘Let’s not do this. I don’t tions that provide fulfillment in your work.
want to play this game. Forget that I called.’”
Huntsman told Haldeman that he would
not use his employees in this way. “Here I was
saying no to the second most powerful person
in the country. He didn’t appreciate responses
and intrinsic motivation in your life?
5. What kind of support team do you
have? How can your support team make
you a more authentic leader? How should
you diversify your team to broaden your
perspective?
6. Is your life integrated? Are you able
to be the same person in all aspects of
your life—personal, work, family, and com-
munity? If not, what is holding you back?
7. What does being authentic mean
in your life? Are you more effective as a
leader 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, to-
morrow, and over the next year to de-
velop your authentic leadership?
Purchased by Ken Hampian (kchampian@charter.net) on March 15, 2013
like that, as he viewed them as signs of disloy-
alty. I might as well have been saying farewell.
So be it. I left within the next six months.”
Balancing Your Extrinsic and
Intrinsic Motivations
Because authentic leaders need to sustain
high levels of motivation and keep their lives
in balance, it is critically important for them to
understand what drives them. There are two
types of motivations—extrinsic and intrinsic.
Although they are reluctant to admit it, many
leaders are propelled to achieve by measuring
their success against the outside world’s pa-
rameters. They enjoy the recognition and sta-
tus that come with promotions and financial
rewards. Intrinsic motivations, on the other
hand, are derived from their sense of the
meaning of their life. They are closely linked
to one’s life story and the way one frames it.
Examples include personal growth, helping
other people develop, taking on social causes,
and making a difference in the world. The key
is to find a balance between your desires for
external validation and the intrinsic motiva-
Many interviewees advised aspiring lead-
ers to be wary of getting caught up in social,
peer, or parental expectations. Debra Dunn,
who has worked in Silicon Valley for decades
as a Hewlett-Packard executive, acknowledged
the constant pressures from external sources:
“The path of accumulating material posses-
sions is clearly laid out. You know how to
measure it. If you don’t pursue that path, peo-
ple wonder what is wrong with you. The only
way to avoid getting caught up in materialism
is to understand where you find happiness
and fulfillment.”
Moving away from the external validation
of personal achievement is not always easy.
Achievement-oriented leaders grow so accus-
tomed to successive accomplishments through-
out their early years that it takes courage to pur-
sue their intrinsic motivations. But at some
point, most leaders recognize that they need to
address more difficult questions in order to pur-
sue truly meaningful success. McKinsey’s Alice
Woodwark, who at 29 has already achieved no-
table success, reflected: “My version of achieve-
ment was pretty naive, born of things I learned
early in life about praise and being valued. But
if you’re just chasing the rabbit around the course,
you’re not running toward anything meaningful.”
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