Authenticity is the signature of the world’s most remembered leaders.  Authentic leaders know their strengths and limitations, as well as what they want to achieve.  Great energy is wasted by those who are inauthentic.  They either do not know who they are or spend a lot of time being who they perceive others want them to be.  A community will follow someone who is authentic because at some level people are able to discern gaps between one’s words and actions.  People more readily trust and rally around leaders who seem to have authentic integrity.

Three elements of authenticity include self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-development.  Self-awareness requires leaders to seek an unvarnished view of themselves, overcoming the traps of self deception.  Authenticity suggests that knowing oneself is essential, but it is not sufficient.  Self-Acceptance means coming to terms with oneself.  People often use the phrase “comfortable in your own skin” to describe this state.  Authenticity is the antithesis of pretense, or being what we think others would find acceptable.  Instead authentic leaders present themselves as who they really are in a way that brings their unique value to the community.  Finally, authenticity means more than knowing and accepting oneself.  Authentic leaders strive to develop, closing the gap between their actual self and their potential excellence.