There is quite a bit of research indicating that authenticity is an important component for leadership presence and overall well-being. My favorite definition of presence is Amy Cuddy's, "Presence is the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values and potential."

In the book "The Confidence Code", Katty Kay and Claire Shipman review research on how women can develop better confidence. It often comes down to two things - authenticity and action.

In "The Gifts of Imperfection", Brene Brown encourages us to let go of what people think and cultivate authenticity in order to experience wholehearted living. There are many other sources of solid research that suggest the power of authenticity in leadership, organizational learning and well-being.

In her TED talk, Ms. Burey eloquently discusses how authenticity is often a double-edged sword for Black women. She tells the story of being urged to be herself but facing backlash and fewer opportunities as a result. I was reminded of the reality of being a White, cisgender women. It is easier for me (though not easy) to tell my stories and embrace my unique purpose and power in order to strengthen my leadership presence. I was disturbed that I had not adequately considered the experiences of Black and other underrepresented groups. It made we wonder if enough research had been done with people of color and their experiences with authenticity.

What does this mean for women who want to strengthen their leadership presence? Is helping them find more opportunties to share their stories and align their lives with their best selves the way to do this? I still believe it is necessary for women learn who they are at their best and show up as this person.

In "Race, Work and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience", there is a chapter entitled “Authenticity in the Workplace: An African-American Perspective” by Patricia Faison Hewlin and Anna-Maria Broomes. Hewlin and Broomes make the distinction between being more authentic and creating facades of conformity.

Facades of conformity are false representations that individuals in organizations create to convey that they embrace the organization’s values. In essence, creating a facade is a strategy people use to survive and succeed when they do not feel free to express their true selves at work. Research on facades of conformity resides with scholarly discussions of authenticity, particularly on how authentic self-expression is constrained when one’s personal perspectives are different or not valued in one’s workplace. Existing findings on facades of conformity highlight the experience of holding minority status across a combination of personal characteristics, such as gender, race, culture, work experience and values. In particular, a core finding is that the number of personal characteristics in which one identifies himself or herself as a minority is positively associated with the degree to which one creates facades of conformity, suppressing personal values and pretending to embrace organizational values (p. 152).

It is not enough to help women choose authenticity in order to strengthen their leadership presence. We must ask how we can help them navigate the reality of choosing when to be authentic and when to use a facade of conformity. In a perfect world, all organizations would embrace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion so that it would not be as necessary to use facades of conformity. It is the responsibility of organizational leaders to champion the change of organizational culture. This leaves us with a conundrum-we need more women with stronger leadership presence in order to put pressure on organizational leaders to improve organizational culture. This also puts pressure on women, particularly women of color, to have the courage to minimize their facades of conformity.

As a leadership coach, I realize more fully now that it is my responsiblity to help my clients not only embrace their authenticity, but also help them deal with the fallout of doing so. I can help them be more aware of their facades of conformity, how they are using them and how and when they choose to drop them. Choice is empowering.

Please allow me to help get your thinking going as you design your nightly ritual. Consider using all or some of these questions. They are designed to strengthen your leadership presence.

• How well did I embrace my unique purpose today?

• How well did I practice my unique power today? (my strengths, experience, talents, skills, knowledge, etc.).

• How well did my words and actions align with my purpose and power?

• How well were my words and actions consistent between my life domains (self, work, home, community)?

• What effective leadership behaviors did I practice today?

• How well did I keep my heart open and remain curious?

• When did I zone out and shut down?

• How well did I know the difference between things I can control and things I can’t?

What other questions would you add to the list?

To simply define purpose, it is your reason for getting out of bed in the morning. It is your “why”. To use a religious/spritual term, it feels like a calling or reason for being on earth. It is distinct from your passion. I have a friend who loves baking pies. She is constantly trying new recipes, giving pies to her friends and blogging about her newest creations. Many have told her she should open a pie bakery. She has been clear; baking pies is her passion, not her purpose. Her purpose is connecting people through communication. She is a top PR consultant.

Certainly your purpose and passion could overlap, but they can also be distinctly different. Why is knowing and living your purpose so important to leadership presence? It is a core component of courageous authenticity. Courageous authenticity is embracing your unique purpose and power and aligning your actions and words around them.

People with strong leadership presence know their purpose and organize their lives around this purpose. There is no daylight between purpose, words and actions. Additionally, this purpose is grounded in the interest of serving others. Serving others is at the heart of effective leadership. As stated by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.

I can’t think of a better definition of leadership-useful, honorable, compassionate, make some difference.

What is your purpose? How do you live your purpose every day?

As I work with my women executive clients on strengthening their leadership presence, we often talk about finding the courage to allow ourselves to be fully seen and heard. I thought about that quite a bit as I struggled with the decision to purchase the shirt. How do we make the decision to be fully seen and heard. How do we balance that with considering the reactions of others? What stops us from being fully seen and heard. I want to be able to express my core beliefs and be sensitive to others’ comfort level. Do I have the balance correct? Are my concerns misplaced.

I will keep you posted on my decision. I am leaning toward getting the bumper sticker along with the shirt.

Much of the work I do with my clients is helping them strengthen their leadership presence. What do we mean by “leadership presence”? Let’s start with one of my favorite researchers in this area of study. Amy Cuddy has defined presence as, “the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential (p. 24).

To define leadership presence, we need to add some items to Cuddy’s concept. I use the term “courageous authenticity” to describe Cuddy’s attuned to and expression of our true selves with an important addition; our actions are in alignment with our true selves. We fully embrace our unique purpose and power. Our daily actions and priorities reflect our true selves-our courageous authenticity.

To complete the model, we do our best to practice effective leadership behaviors. Lastly, we act with courageous authenticity and practice leadership in all domains of our life-self, work, home and community. A visual representation of this model of leadership presence is below.

I challenge you to use this time to reflect on your own leadership presence. How well are you embracing your unique purpose and power? Your power are your strengths, skills, talents, knowledge, experiences, etc. How well do your actions and priorities align with your courageous authenticity? Do you walk the walk and talk the talk? How well do you let others see and hear your best self? What is your favorite model of leadership? In what areas do you excel? Where do you want to improve? What is your plan? How well do you integrate all life domains; knowledging that work is a part of life, not separate from it?

These are not easy questions to answer. The good news is you don’t have to answer all of them at one time. I challenge you to focus on one day at a time and reaiize that taking a step back is still progress-it is part of the process. Pick one thing you want to focus on and be more aware. Taking even a small step will strengthen your leadership presence.

Reference:

Cuddy, A. (2015). Presence: Bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges. New York, New York: Little, Brown and Company

Leadership Presence

Amy Cuddy defines presence as, “the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential (p. 24). My definition of leadership presence is acting with courageous authenticity in all life domains while practicing effective leadership behaviors in order to lead others through uncertainty and change. Courageous authenticity is embracing your unique purpose and power and allowing others to see and hear the “real” you. Being authentic requires a willingness to be vulnerable and that is the most courageous thing any of us can do.

Importance of Developing a Voice

Why is developing a voice key to strengthening leaadership presence? Let’s revisit Cuddy’s and my definitions. Cuddy states that presence is “comfortably expressing our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential.” I talk about embracing your purpose, which includes your values and priorities. Developing a voice is the foundation of leadership presence. Without knowing your best self and having the willingness to express and act on it, leadership presence is not fully possible. Whenever I give a presentation on leadership presence, I ask the participants for examples of public figures who they think have leadership presence. Michelle Obama is often identified.

Characteristics of a leader with a voice

Ms. Obama is recognized as a leader who very clearly and confidently expresses her true thoughts, feelings, values and potential. Most of us could quickly name several things Ms. Obama believes in: equal rights, women’s empowerment, compassion, racial justice and opportunity for all. She has been willing to use her voice in the face of criticism and judgment. Her work has been in the service of others; particulary Black young women. Lastly, she has expressed her voice while practicing effective leadership behaviors such as inspiring a shared vision, empowering others, celebrating success and challenging the status quo.

Developing Your Voice

The first step to strengthening your leadership presence is developing your voice. Ask yourself the following series of questions. Take your time answering them. You may want to start a “voice” journal as a practice of daily reflection.

• How would you define or describe your voice?

• How would others define or describe your voice?

• For what do you most want to be known?

• What has challenged you from developing your voice?

• What would be the biggest benefits for you developing your voice?

• What would be the biggest risks?

• What step could you take today to help you develop and act on your voice?

Reference:

Cuddy, A. (2015). Presence: Bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges. New York, New York: Little, Brown and Company

Increase Your Influence in 30 Days

Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good, necessary trouble. U.S. Representative John Lewis.

I have reflected on this quote from Congressman Lewis often in the days before and after his passing. I have spent the bulk of my professional life helping others develop as leaders, while continously working on my own development. Leadership is fundamentally about challenging the status quo and advocating for a better, more positive future. Congressman Lewis most certainly challenged the status quo in his work getting the vote for Black Americans. He was willing to risk his life for it.

The status quo remains because someone (or group) in power perceives benefits from the status quo. In our society, that is usually white, heterosexual, Christian men. Those not a member of that privileged group (whether they acknowledge their privilege or not) face a mighty struggle to work against the status quo from which the privileged benefit.

Organizations are no different than society as a whole. There are the privileged and those who don’t benefit as much from the status quo. As leaders, it is our responsibility to challenge the status quo and ask ourselves how it may be changed so that many as possible benefit. This requires us to, “not be afraid to make some noise and get in good, necessary trouble.”

What keeps us from making some noise? What is it we fear? Those of us who don’t already benefit from societal privilege and have worked hard to gain some don’t want to lose what we have earned by bucking the system. Fortunately, most of us do not have to fear getting physically beat up like Congressman Lewis endured. But we do fear losing a position or being publicly called out on social media.

What would have happened if Congressman Lewis had stayed silent, had not marched on the Edmund Pettis Bridge, spoken at the March on Washington or run for Congress? Our country would be in a much worse place. Because he made some noise and got in good, necessary trouble, his words and actions will impact generations to come.

I certainly don’t face the issues Congressman Lewis faced, but there are some things in my world that desperately need me to make some noise. How about you? What noise do you need to make?

Key Quesions for Reflection

• What is the status quo you wish to challenge?

• What are your biggest fears?

• How can you minimize risks to yourself?

• How prepared are you to face the consequences?

• How are the privileged benefiting from the status quo?

• What do the privileged stand to lose from a change in the status quo?

• How could the both the majority and the privileged benefit from a change in the status quo?

• Who are your allies in willingness to change the status quo?

• What steps are necessary to change the status quo?

• How can the changes be made with the least amount of resistance?

I have spent the last week reflecting on the death of George Floyd. I was hesitant to immediately add my thoughts to the public discourse. This is such an important moment; it feels like one of those moments that fundamentally shifts our perspectives and awareness. I notice this shift in my white identifying friends who previously were hesitant to accept the reality of white privilege. It feels like we are having a collective “Ah ha” experience.

As a hetrosexual, white identifying woman, I work hard to be aware of my own biases and blindspots. I am fortunate to have been exposed to and part of efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in both my professional and personal life. But, as part of owning my story, I have not done enough. As this week has taught us, we all must be more active allies.

What stops us from owning our stories? Of being fully aware of our subconscious and conscious biases? Often it is shame. It doesn't feel good to admit that I have biases. We don’t want to believe that about ourselves. Having the biases doesn't make us bad people, but we have a responsibility, particularly as leaders, to own up to them. That is the first step.

What can we do to own our stories and be more active allies for diversity, equity and inclusion?

• Listen, listen, listen with an open heart and mind. Notice feelings of defensiveness and shame come up as you listen to another person’s story. Fully acknowledge the feelings, take a deep breath and re-engage as a listener.

• When we ask questions, ground them in curiosity.

• Don’t place the burden on black and brown people to educate us; we need to take responsiblity for our own learning. Read a book, attend a talk, watch a documentary.

• Find the courage to speak up when we witness acts of injustice.

I have recently joined a book discussion group in which we will be discussing Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad. It is a small step, but something I can do right now. What can you do now?

Yet, is there some normal that I (and we) don’t want back? I work with the leaders and members of non-profit membership organizations and higher education institutions. The pandemic has affectly deeply and profoundly both of those industries. There is no normal anymore. In a very short period of time, the way they do business has ceased to exist (at least for now) and may not come back for quite some time. They desperately want their normal back. However, the best leaders of these organizations aren’t wishing for a return to normal; they are creating their new normal.

The best leaders are using this time to challenge their organizations to imagine a new future. For a membership organization, member engagement is key. How can an organization engage with its members in this new reality? A better and broader question - how can we best engage with our members? What do we want to create? What creative approaches can we imagine?

We need to guard against proposing solutions before we frame our desired outcomes. My favorite example comes from my days working with residential college students. It is a simple example, but still works. My student leader came to me and said, “I want to have an ice cream social for my residents.” My question back to her was, “What do you want to accomplish?” My student wanted to help her new residents get to know each other, reduce their fears and help them cope with homesickness. We brainstormed all of the approaches she could take to accomplish these outcomes. The ice cream social survived, but it was a part of a larger effort invoving the entire team of resident advisors.

As a leader, this is the best time to ask your colleagues and stakeholders, what do we want to accomplish? What is the difference we want to make? What can we do now to start creating this new normal? Action is the antidote to fear. We are all fearful now. Our fear response is to want things to go back to the way they were. Even if things weren’t great, we understood our reality and there is comfort in that. I challenge you (as I challenge myself) to guard against the very understandable desire to want things to go back to normal. Yes, you will want some things to go back to the way they were (e.g. your uneventful grocery store trips). But, what do you want to change? What have you been putting off that now you can try? Take care and good luck!

An excellent resource for learning about resilence is this TEDx talk from resilience expert Lucy Hone: The Three Secrets of Resilient People. Dr. Hone identified three things resilient people do:

• They accept that bad things happen and that no one is immune.

• They shift their attention to the good. They find the benefit in negative events. Dr. Hone lost her daughter in a car accident. She found comfort in the fact that her daughter was killed quickly and did not suffer. Dr. Hone also advises that we all, on a daily basis, identify three positive things that happened.

• They notice their thoughts and actions and ask, “Is what I am doing helping or hurting me?”. Dr. Hone caught herself compulsively looking at pictures of her daughter and realized she was hurting herself to do so.

Please allow me to add a few more things:

During this challenging time, focus on relationships rather than outcomes. The desire to “fix” everything that is going wrong and produce positive outcomes is strong. Don’t let this impulse overwhelm the need for us to take care of each other;to listen;to relate.

Take on the challenges one day at a time. Yes, you have to look down the road and do your best to anticipate future issues, but don’t lose sight of what you can accomplish today.

It is easy to feel a need to work 24/7; action relives feelings of anxiety and fear. However, You need to give yourself time to recover; no matter the length of your to-do list. Allowing yourself to deplete your energy stores will significantly impact your ability to lead your team from a place of strength and possibility. There is a difference between rest and recovery. Technically, sitting in front of the TV mindlessly is rest but it is not recovery. Recovery is doing something that renews your spirit and soul. What gives you life?

I wish you health and happier days.

As someone who studies leadership and helps women to clarify who they are as a leader, I have given much thought in the last week or so on how effective leaders could and should respond to this situation.

I keep coming back to the distinction between opportunities and threats. Many of us are familiar with and have taken part in a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Often at the beginning of a strategic planning process, organizational members identify items and issues under each category.

Strengths and Weaknesses are things typically internal to an organization; Opportunities and Threats are external concerns. More specifically, opportunities refer to favorable external factors that could give an organization a competitive advantage. Threats are factors that have the potential to harm an organization.

The Coronavirus is a threat to associations that are forced to cancel in-person meetings and conferences. For small associations, cancelling an annual conference is particulary problematic. The loss of revenue due to a cancelled conference could result in job layoffs or even put the existence of the association in jeopardy.

This harsh reality can effect dramatically the morale and productivity of association members, board and staff. What can association leaders do to positively re-focus energies and efforts? It is helpful to turn to another way to frame current challenges.

Proponents of Appreciative Inquiry recommend conducting a SOAR rather than a SWAT analysis. With SOAR, the focus is on the organization and enhancing what is currently done well, rather than concentrating on perceived threats and/or weaknesses. When conducting a SOAR analysis, the basic questions to be answered are:

• What are our greatest strengths?

• What are our best opportunities?

• What is our preferred future?

• What are the measurable results that will tell us we’ve achieved that vision of the future?

An association may use this time to ask:

• How can we diversify our revenue streams?

• How can we deliver our annual conference experience other than in-person?

• What new programs and services can we develop for our members?

• What brighter future do we envision for our association after the crisis passes?

Effective leaders acknowledge people’s concerns without enabling fear based decision-making. They listen with compassion and possibility. They channel energy into action-the antidote for fear. They communicate “this is a difficult time AND we will persist”.

This is a diffcult time AND we will persist.

How does this apply to confidence? Let’s turn to one of the best books written in the last few years on the subject. In The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance - What Women Should Know, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman review and summarize the best research on the nature of confidence and how women can have more. They also interview world renowned and respected women leaders. They come to the conclusion that confidence comes down to two things - authenticity and action:

The appeal of faking it, if only for a while, is that is offers a crutch - a way to begin. Here’s a better way to reframe the premise for a quick confidence jump-start: Don’t pretend to be anything or anyone - simply take action. Do one small brave thing, and then the next one will be easier, and soon confidence will flow. We know - fake it till you make it sounds catcher - but this actually works. (pg. 165).

So what is the alternative to faking it? If we are going to lead with our authentic selves, what does that look like? Part of the answer is allowing others to know our genuine thoughts and feelings. If we are constantly hiding what we are thinking and feeling, we are always on guard to being “found out”. This is not leading from a place of strength. Allowing ourselves to be vulnerable enables us to lead from strength. Brene Brown has written extensively about expressing vulnerability, specificially how it relates to leadership in her book Daring To Lead. For the purposes of our discussion here, I will highlight an important distinction about vulnerability and confidence from Kay and Shipman:

Expressing some vulnerability can be a strength, especially when it connects you to others. Dwelling on insecurities, and basking in self-doubt is not. Reviewing your decisions with an eye to improvement is a strength, as is admiting mistakes. Ruminating for days over decisions already made or those to come has nothing to do with the confidence we envision. (pg. 196).

Admitting to a colleague that you are nervous before giving a presentation is a sign of confidence; second-guessing your performance for days afterward is not.

Embrace your unique purpose, power and presence, share them with others and take small, brave actions. What can you do today?

Questions for Reflection

• How do you define confidence for yourself? How well do you accept Kay and Shipman’s definition?

• When was the last time you felt really confident? What were you doing? What were you feeling? What were you thinking?

• What is one small brave thing you can do today?

“In the magazine industry, there are a lot of—there’s an image, right, that you need to be a high-fashion person, that you need to have been a journalist in the trenches,” said Lewis, the chief content officer for Hearst Magazines. As a young, ambitious woman, she emulated them—thinking doing so was key to her thriving in the notoriously fast-paced New York publishing world.

However, she had an important moment of insight. She realized she would be a more effective leader if she was herself.

“I found my success when I became who I am. And that’s hard,” Lewis said during an interview for POLITICO’s Women Rule podcast. “I became comfortable with just being Kate. And that enabled me to have more candid, more deep, more real conversations with the people who were either going to hire me or were going to manage me or who I was going to work with. And I think that has made me more successful.”

Please allow me to highlight the first sentance of this quote - “I found my success when I became who I am. And that’s hard.” Kate is describing Courageous Authenticity™. I define Courageous Authenticity™ as embracing your unique Purpose, Power and Presence.

It is:

• leading at your best as your best self

• allowing yourself to be fully seen and heard

• being the same authentic person in all of your life domains

• using best practices of effective leadership

“And that’s hard”. Why is it hard? Why do I use the term Courageous Authenticity? As Kate described, there is pressure to behave in a way that is in alignment with the culture of the organization and/or industry. Effective leaders are fully aware of organizational and industry cultures. It is counter productive to ignore these cultures. The pressure to conform to cultures is strong; I argue it is particularly strong for women. What Kate has done successfully is find a way to be her best self within her industry culture.

“I became comfortable with just being Kate. And that enabled me to have more candid, more deep, more real conversations with the people who were either going to hire me or were going to manage me or who I was going to work with. And I think that has made me more successful.”

Questions for Reflection:

• What have you noticed about your organization/industry culture?

• How big is the gap between your authentic self and this culture?

• How comfortable are you with just being you?

• What changes could you make to start leading at your best with Courageous Authenticity™?

• What concerns do you have about making these changes?

Stewart Friedman and the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project have done groundbreaking research that shows us that work-life balance doesn’t work. Dr. Friedman and his colleagues use the term “work-life integration.” They contend we are most effective as leaders when we integrate our life domains - self, work, home and community. We do this by identifying our core values and priorities and organizing all life domains around them. Dr. Friedman does a much more thorough job of explaining his model in Total Leadership. I highly recommend it.

But, Dr. Friedman still uses the term “work-life”. Shouldn’t it just be life? Can’t we say we organize our life around our core values and make decisions based on those values? The values we practice at home are the same as the values we have at work - and for ourselves - and for our community. How is our attitude shifted when we realize that work is a part of life instead of a separate entity?

To give an example, let’s say you highly value wellness. Dr. Friedman’s model advises to make wellness a priority in all of your life domains. How could you honor your commitment to wellness at work? For yourself? With your family? In your community? By practicing wellness in all life domains, you are energized and avoid wasting time on actions that are not consistent with this value. This frees up emotional, mental and physical energy to be a more effective leader because you are being real and whole.

Questions for reflection:

Instead of “work-life”, think about “life”. How does this shift your thinking?

What resistance are you encountering by making “work” an equal life domain with self, home and community?

What shifts could you make - in your thinking and actions - that honor all of your life domains?

Readers of Brene Brown’s work know that this voice comes from shame - a belief that you are not enough. Brene’s TED talk on The Power of Vulnerability has been watched almost 43 million times. Her research indicates that shame is the main emotion that prevents us from having the courage to be fully seen and heard; to allow ourselves to be vulnerable. By giving into the voice in the head, we don’t take risks that could help us increase our influence and transform our organizations.

What should do we do with the voice in the head? We should thank it. We developed the voice in the head as a way of protecting ourselves. It tells to hold back so that we don’t get hurt, criticized or embarrassed. It tells us to stay safe. Unfortunately, it is also telling us we are not strong enough to handle the hurt, criticism and embarrassment. Again to borrow from Brene Brown (who borrowed the term from Theodore Roosevelt), having the courage to be fully seen and heard is like entering the arena. By entering the arena, you may be “marred by sweat and dust and blood.”. It is the fear that we can’t handle this experience is what keeps us from entering the arena. The voice in the head wants to prevent us from entering the arena door.

So why would we thank the voice in the head? I differ a little bit from Dan Harris on this. The voice in the head can certainly sound like an asshole or a bully. It is telling us we are not good enough; stay in your place and not be noticed. In a misguided way, the voice in the head is trying to protect us. Instead of fighting with the voice (which has a tendency to make it stronger next time), what if we thanked it and showed it and us, some compassion? What would happen if the next time you heard the voice in the head, you thanked it for trying to protect you and told it that you didn’t need it anymore? What if we started believing that we are strong enough? The antidote for fear is action; the more we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, the more we learn we can handle it.

Some questions for reflection:

• How do you know when you hear the voice in the head? What does it sound like? How do you feel?

• Under what kinds of circumstances do you hear the voice most often?

• What strategies could you use to address the voice with compassion and understanding?

• How can you change your behavior after hearing the voice?

• Think about examples in which you entered the arena and were “marred by sweat and dust and blood.” What helped you recover? What did you learn from the experience?

Leaders have tremendous influence on the culture, priorities and actions in their organizations. They communicate what is permissible and not based on their words and actions. Organization members who want to belong and get along will often mirror the words and actions of the leader in order to remain a part of the group. A feedback loop is created that perpetuates the culture so that it is reinforced.

There are numerous examples from history of the power of leaders to influence their follower’s actions and words. Too often, we look these examples and shake our heads and wonder, “How could that happen? How could people behave like that?”. Leaders can choose to use this influence for positive or negative outcomes. We know Dr. King and Gandhi; we also know Hitler and Stalin. I hesitate to use the term “leader” in the context of Hitler and Stalin. I believe true leaders inspire a shared vision and lead others toward making positive change.

You may not lead a country or even a large organization, but you have great influence over the words and actions of your followers. Do not underestimate the power your have to inspire positive change. Some questions to get you thinking and reflecting on your influence as a leader:

• How well do your words and actions align with your values and priorities?

• What are you trying to accomplish with your words and actions?

• What do you notice about the influence you have in your organization?

• How well are your words and actions consistent?

• What shifts can you make in your words and actions that will affect the change you desire?

Let me know what you think!

Leadership is gender neutral - there is not a male or female version. However, as a society, we often apply gender attributes to our collective images of how leaders are supposed to act. We see this as women run for office or become CEO’s. We hear comments like, “She doesn't look like a leader”. Due to socialization, we are often unaware of our biases when we think about “leaders”. In addition, women can feel pressure to conform to these biases and behave in ways that may not be authentic.

Personally speaking, I have received advice to both speak up at meetings and not talk so much - sometimes in the same day. When we enter an organization, we quickly learn the spoken and unspoken rules and norms of behavior. Women are under more pressure to conform to organizational cultures and are more quickly criticized for not “going along”.

Increasing Your Influence by Leading with Courageous Authenticity™

So, how can women increase their influence as a leader while dealing with challenges from societal pressures and sexism? I argue women are at their strongest and most influential when they lead with Courageous Authenticity™. A few years ago, I attended a women’s leadership conference. There was a panel of accomplished executive women discussing their leadership journey. To a women, each one told stories of coming into her own as a leader. The overriding theme of the stories was “be who you are, embrace your best self, stop being so concerned what others think.” One women in particular said she knew she had arrived as a leader when she stopped trying to act like others and focused on being fully herself. She talked about the courage it took to be fully authentic.

So, how can we practice Courageous Authenticity™? Here are the three steps:

Clarify Your Purpose

What gets you out of bed in the morning? What do you find most meaningful? What is your “why”? How clear are you about your priorities? How well are your priorities in alignment with your organization?

Embrace Your Power

What are your signature strengths? What unique skills, talents and experiences do you bring to your organization? What activities give you energy? How do you know you are acting and being your best self?

Strengthen Your Leadership Presence

How well do you communicate your purpose and power? How do your actions align with your purpose and power? How well do you walk your walk and talk your talk? Are you fully seen and heard? How often do your colleagues experience you as your best self?

When you take these three steps and do your best to practice the behaviors of effective leadership, you are in a much more powerful position to have the influence to transform your organization. What can you get started on today?