Leadership and suspicion.
Leadership and authenticity don’t always go hand in hand.
Politicians and authenticity even less so.
With great power comes great responsibility, and along with that, often quite a bit of suspicion from the people that they have power over.
The term “power over” itself is problematic. Better and more helpful is “care for,” but people don’t often feel “cared for” or even like a priority for their leaders. Suspicion and distrust fester.
Kim Scott, former CEO coach at Dropbox says “to some degree, the minute you assume the role of boss you’ll be fighting preconceptions.” People are already predisposed not to trust you and leaders don’t help themselves when they don’t allow themselves to be authentic.
An obsession with perfection.
Perhaps it’s an obsession with perfection – not wanting to show any weakness or chinks in their armour. There’s a heavy weight of responsibility to deliver results. It’s impossible to be authentic when you place yourself under relentless pressure to be perfect. It’s not realistic. It’s not human. It’s no-one’s authentic truth and we can’t relate.
With such a heavy focus on not getting caught out and having all the answers, leaders allow themselves less space to listen, understand and learn.
One of the things that set Barack Obama apart as a leader, irrespective of his politics, was his willingness to listen and respond authentically to his audiences, even when under immense pressure. The following clip is a masterclass in vulnerable, authentic leadership.
It’s all of our responsibility.
Responsibility must also be taken by all of us. We have to re-assess how we judge not just our leaders but each other. If we want greater authenticity and leaders that we can relate to, then we must allow space for them to be imperfect. We must allow more space for all of us to be imperfect. This is rarely the case.
We only have to look at the unforgiving way that public figures are treated in our media to understand why they may feel uneasy about letting their guard down and being themselves.
Russell Brand’s analysis of Theresa May’s tears at her resignation is exceptional. We don’t allow space for our leaders to be human: We must.
We also only have to look at the way we treat each other on social media for more evidence. Anyone that puts themselves out there and shows a little of them to the world is vulnerable to pretty vicious and downright nasty attacks.
Yet, Brene Brown is brilliant in likening this to an arena – “If you’re not in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback.”
We need to stop focusing on bringing each other down and rather unite in getting our bums kicked together. Authentic. Imperfect.
Imperfect is authentic.
That’s why New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s national address in a sweatshirt from home is as brave as it is inspirational. Free from any obsession with her own perfection, ensuring a flattering camera angle, delivering a word perfect script, or endless retakes, she just talks to us. It’s simple, it’s human, it’s authentic and it’s thoroughly refreshing.
