Courtesy of Erin Hatzikostas
Erin Hatzikostas.
- Erin Hatzikostas is a former corporate CEO turned career coach, speaker, and podcast host; she is the founder and CEO of b Authentic inc.
- Hatzikostas says that authentic leadership is a hot topic, and one that can help combat things like employee disengagement.
- But it's difficult to define authenticity; instead, looking at signs of inauthentic leadership may be more helpful.
- Inauthentic leaders may tout their busyness, send impersonal communications, behave differently in different settings, talk over people, and not practice work-life balance.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
It was just hours before we kicked off our first-ever leadership event. Approximately 100 people were driving or flying in for two and a half days of inspiring goodness.
This pre-meeting was all about making sure I was prepared and ready with my opening and closing speeches. I admit, I had a bit of a reputation for "winging things."
One of the women from the consulting team asked if I was planning to show the video they suggested. You might have seen it; it's called "First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy." For some reason, this video has gone viral.
And look, I get it. There is some fun metaphorical stuff going on. The basic premise is that everyone is at a concert and no one is dancing. And then this one crazy guy starts dancing. And then the first follower. They overlay all kinds of leadership lessons while you painfully watch the shirtless "leader" dance with everyone.
When I saw the video that they sent me several weeks earlier, I thought: Great, I will use this as inspiration. I won't show the video - I will be the video.
As I explained to everyone that I was just going to dance myself, they looked at me with blank stares.
I asked, "Are you worried about me dancing because: a. I'll ruin the event, or b. I'll make a fool of myself?"
All agreed it wasn't "a."
I said, "Great, then I'm dancing."
And, let me tell you, it was an incredible ending to our event. I had the entire room dancing in about five seconds. No video or speech could have achieved the incredible energy we collectively left the room with.
Some might call this "authentic leadership." In fact, those are words people have used to describe me several times.
Authentic leadership is a hot topic right now, and for good reason. It is one of the most simple and powerful ways to make massive progress against two of the most pervasive corporate problems - gender inequality and employee disengagement.
Many articles have been written on this topic, including several studies and articles by HBR. Business Insider has even recently touched on the topic of authenticity.
Here's the problem: Defining authenticity is virtually impossible. Because authenticity is inherently personal, it's nearly impossible to nail it down.
But you know what is easy? You know it when you don't see it. Here are five signs that you're not an authentic leader.