The Lived Experiences of Authentic Leaders

Abstract

Globalization presents an array of challenges and opportunities for today's leaders. Recurring corporate and government malfeasance on a global scale as well as the morally complex environments of organizations are imposing more significant demands on organizational actors. Authentic leadership is an emerging leadership category that is gaining much interest due to the demand for more authentic leaders. Authentic leaders attain greater performance from their followers and this is considered a leadership multiplier that produces a virtuous cycle of performance and learning for leaders, followers, and organizations. This chapter discusses a completed study that addresses the following research question: How do experiences inform authentic leadership development across the 4 dimensions of the authentic leadership multidimensional construct of self-awareness, balanced processing, relational transparency, and internalized moral/ethical perspectives?