Authenticity has become a familiar part of the language of modern leadership. We are encouraged to bring our whole selves to work, lead authentically, be vulnerable and find our voice. These ideas can be valuable, but when the language of authenticity is repeated often enough, something interesting can happen: authenticity itself can become another leadership expectation to perform.
Leaders may feel pressure to appear confident, decisive, composed, resilient or certain, even when those behaviours do not reflect what they are actually experiencing. They can find themselves trying to demonstrate the "right" kind of vulnerability, confidence or openness, rather than considering what genuinely fits who they are.
Authentic leadership asks us to look beneath those expectations and consider the relationship we have with ourselves. It also requires nuance. Authenticity does not mean expressing every thought or emotion without considering context or impact.
So, what does it really mean to lead authentically, and how can leaders stay connected to themselves while navigating the expectations and responsibilities of leadership?
Consider a senior leader who is thoughtful, analytical and naturally collaborative. They like to listen before making decisions, ask questions and take time to consider different perspectives. After moving into a more senior role, they find themselves in a leadership culture where confidence means speaking quickly, having the answer and projecting certainty. Gradually, they begin to imitate that style. They speak before they have fully thought things through, stop asking questions and project confidence even when they are uncertain.
From the outside, they look more like the leader they think they are expected to be. Internally, however, they feel increasingly disconnected from themselves. Eventually, they realise that the issue is not a lack of confidence. They have been performing a particular version of leadership rather than leading in a way that works naturally for them.
This is where authentic leadership begins: not with becoming more impressive, but with becoming more aware.
At Global Warriors, the I AM model explores the idea of reconnecting with who we really are beneath the "masks" and "filters" we can accumulate throughout our lives and careers. We do not arrive at leadership as blank canvases. We bring with us years of messages about who we need to be in order to succeed, belong and be taken seriously.
In leadership, those messages might include being confident, decisive, resilient, knowledgeable, authoritative or always in control. Some of these qualities can be useful, but problems can arise when they become rules about how we must behave. Over time, it can become difficult to distinguish between who we genuinely are and who we have learned to be.
Self-awareness allows leaders to notice these patterns rather than operating from them unconsciously. It creates space to ask more useful questions: What matters to me? What are my values? When do I feel most like myself? What situations bring out my best? Where do I notice myself performing or editing who I am? What expectations about leadership have I absorbed, and which of them genuinely belong to me?
The Global Warriors I AM work explores this process of reconnecting with the person beneath the layers we develop over time. One programme participant described recognising that some of the career goals she had been pursuing were things she thought she should want, rather than things she genuinely wanted. Reconnecting with herself helped her see new possibilities and develop a different understanding of what leadership could mean.
Authenticity starts with self-awareness. We cannot intentionally show up as ourselves if we have lost sight of who that is.
We have inherited some powerful images of what leadership is supposed to look like. The leader who speaks first. The leader who has the answer. The leader who never hesitates. The leader who takes up space. The leader who remains calm under pressure. The leader who appears completely certain, even when the situation itself is uncertain.
But looking like a leader and actually leading are not necessarily the same thing.
Global Warriors' work on confidence challenges the tendency to define confidence through visible behaviours such as how often someone speaks, how assertively they communicate or how readily they share an opinion. It explores the idea that confidence can be connected to something deeper, including belonging, feeling valued and knowing that our contribution will be heard and taken seriously.
This creates an important possibility. A quiet leader may be highly confident. A reflective leader may be highly decisive. A leader who says "I don't know" may demonstrate more self-awareness than one who produces an immediate answer. A leader who asks for help may be more secure in their role than one who feels compelled to solve everything alone.
Authentic leadership gives us permission to question the performance. Instead of asking, "What would a confident leader do here?", we might ask, "What would effective leadership look like for me, in this situation, given who I am and what is needed?"
Sometimes that will mean speaking up. Sometimes it will mean listening. Sometimes it will mean making the decision. Sometimes it will mean admitting that you need more information. Sometimes it will mean changing your mind.
The goal is not to reject confidence. It is to broaden our understanding of what leadership confidence can look like. Confidence does not need to be a costume, and leadership does not need to be a performance.
Authenticity gives leaders permission to move away from performing what leadership is "supposed" to look like and towards leading in a way that is genuinely their own.
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”
— Brené Brown, TED2012, Listening to Shame
Knowing yourself is one thing. Allowing other people to see you is another.
Masks exist for a reason. They can protect us from judgement, rejection, embarrassment and failure. In professional environments, where reputation and status can feel important, taking off those masks can feel particularly risky. You might admit you made a mistake, say you do not know, ask for help, challenge the prevailing view or have an honest conversation about something that has not gone as planned.
This is where vulnerable leadership can require courage. Allowing people to see some uncertainty, imperfection or humanity does not mean abandoning professional boundaries. It means being willing to be genuine when doing so serves the situation and the people involved.
Global Warriors has previously written about the "vulnerability hangover", the discomfort that can follow a moment when we have allowed ourselves to be genuinely seen. The feeling can arrive afterwards: Why did I say that? Did I reveal too much? What will they think of me now?
But discomfort is not necessarily evidence that we have done something wrong. Sometimes it is simply the feeling of having stepped beyond a familiar protective pattern.
Imagine a leader admitting in a meeting, "I don't think we have enough information to make this decision yet. I know I have been presenting a lot of certainty recently, but actually, I'm not certain." There may be a moment of silence. Then someone else says, "I've had the same concern, but I wasn't sure whether to raise it." The conversation changes.
The point is not that leaders should disclose everything. It is that authentic leadership sometimes requires the courage to be seen without knowing exactly how people will respond.
Authenticity is not always comfortable. Sometimes it asks us to tolerate the uncertainty that comes with allowing other people to see a little more of who we really are.
This is where the idea of "just be yourself" becomes too simplistic.
Authenticity does not mean saying everything we think, sharing every emotion or behaving identically in every situation. It does not mean ignoring context, relationships, impact or responsibility. In fact, authentic leadership requires discernment.
The Authenticity Trap makes this distinction particularly important. There is a difference between consciously adapting how we show up and changing ourselves because we believe who we are will not be accepted.
A leader might communicate differently with a board, a direct report and a customer. That is not necessarily inauthentic. It may simply be good leadership. Choosing not to share something personal is not inauthentic. Reading the room is not inauthentic. Adjusting how you communicate with different people is not inherently inauthentic.
The more useful question is whether those choices are conscious and aligned with who you are, or whether they are driven by a perceived need to hide yourself in order to belong.
Authenticity is not the absence of a filter. It is staying connected to yourself while making conscious choices about how you show up.
There is another side to this conversation.
Organisations often tell people to "bring their whole selves to work", but whether that is genuinely possible depends heavily on the environment around them. Imagine asking someone to speak honestly while reacting defensively when they challenge senior leadership. Or encouraging vulnerability while treating mistakes as evidence of incompetence. Or telling people their perspective matters while rewarding those who communicate in exactly the same way as everyone else.
The message becomes contradictory: be yourself, but not too much. Challenge us, but do not disrupt us. Be vulnerable, but never look uncertain. Bring your voice, provided it sounds like ours.
This is where authenticity becomes an organisational issue rather than simply an individual leadership skill.
Leaders can ask themselves: Can people disagree with me without damaging the relationship? Can someone say "I don't know" or acknowledge that they need help? Can people challenge an established way of working? Are different communication and leadership styles genuinely valued? What happens when someone leads differently from me? Are people rewarded for constructive honesty, or primarily for fitting in?
This connects authenticity to trust, belonging and psychological safety. Leaders influence that environment through their own reactions and behaviour. If a leader responds defensively every time someone challenges them, the team will learn from that. If a leader says, "I don't know, what am I missing?", the team will learn from that too.
If a leader admits a mistake and focuses on what can be learned, they demonstrate that competence does not require perfection.
Organisations cannot ask people to show up authentically while rewarding them for conforming.
Authentic leadership does not mean reaching a permanent state where you are always completely centred, confident and true to yourself. That would simply turn authenticity into another form of perfectionism.
Everyone has moments when old patterns return. You leave a meeting and realise you stayed quiet when you wanted to speak. You agree too quickly. You project certainty you did not feel. You make yourself smaller. You become defensive. You revert to a version of yourself that once helped you feel safe.
The important thing is not to judge yourself for having done so. It is to notice.
One of the observations in Global Warriors' I AM work comes from facilitator Dave Harris, who recalls asking a martial arts teacher how he remained centred all the time. The response was:
"I'm not, but I'm an expert at noticing when I'm not."
That is a useful way to think about authentic leadership.
Not perfection. Awareness.
You notice when you have moved away from yourself. You become curious about why. Then, gradually, you become more capable of choosing differently.
Perhaps next time you speak. Perhaps next time you pause. Perhaps next time you say, "I need to think about that." Perhaps next time you hold the boundary you previously would have abandoned.
Authenticity becomes a practice of noticing, reconnecting and choosing. Over time, this can create greater alignment between who a leader is, what they value and how they behave.
Authentic leadership is not a destination or fixed state. It is an ongoing practice.
Authenticity begins with curiosity about the gap between who we are and how we show up. These five questions can help make that gap more visible.
1. Where do I feel most like myself as a leader?
What people, environments or situations allow you to show up naturally? When do you feel energised rather than depleted by the way you are leading?
2. Where do I notice myself performing?
When do you feel pressure to appear more certain, confident, agreeable, authoritative or composed than you really feel? What version of leadership are you trying to demonstrate?
3. What am I protecting?
What might you be afraid would happen if you allowed more of yourself to be seen? Would you risk judgement, rejection, losing authority or making a mistake? And where might that fear have come from?
4. Am I adapting or hiding?
When you adjust how you communicate or behave, is it a conscious leadership choice? Or are you editing yourself because you believe who you are will not be accepted?
5. What happens when other people show up authentically around me?
How do you respond when someone disagrees with you, admits uncertainty, asks for help or leads differently from you? Our own authenticity is only part of the story. Sometimes the most revealing question is not "Am I creating space to be myself?" but "Am I creating space for other people to be themselves?"
Authentic Leadership Is More Than "Being Yourself"
Authentic leadership is more nuanced than simply "being yourself".
It requires self-awareness to understand who we are beneath expectations, habits and learned behaviours. It requires courage to allow ourselves to be seen, particularly when being seen carries some risk. It requires discernment to recognise that authenticity does not mean saying or sharing everything in every situation.
And it requires environments where authenticity is genuinely possible. Cultures where people can question, disagree, admit uncertainty and lead differently without being punished for stepping outside the expected mould.
We will not show up perfectly authentically in every situation, nor should that be the goal. The opportunity is to become increasingly aware of the moments when we are performing, protecting or disconnecting from ourselves, and increasingly able to choose how we want to respond.
Perhaps authentic leadership is not about removing every mask. Perhaps it is about becoming more aware of the masks we wear, understanding why they are there and knowing when we no longer need them.
Because leadership becomes more authentic when there is greater alignment between who we are, what we value and how we choose to lead.
At Global Warriors, our leadership development programmes help leaders build the self-awareness, courage and connection needed to lead in ways that feel authentic to who they are, while navigating the complexity of real organisations, relationships and leadership roles.
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