A Good Leader Is Authentic

Authenticity and purpose are key elements in personal growth and leadership development.

I recently read Kevin Cashman book- "Awakening the Leader Within" Which inspired me to write this article. Cashman provides insights on becoming a successful, purposeful, authentic and powerful leader. His book tells the story of a CEO- Bensen Quinn (a character based on hundreds of real-life CEOs), who faces a magnitude of personal, professional, and ethical crises.As Quinn confronts each crisis, he learns lessons about authentic and purposeful leadership.

Quinn is baffled when he finds he can't answer some of life's most important questions: Does my life have meaning? Am I making a ifference? Is this the life I want to live? What is my purpose? What is my path, my destiny, my calling, Am I my authentic self.

As Quinn embarks upon a journey of personal development, he grows as a leader, becoming more authentic, more purposeful, more determined to add value to his company and community and to create a meaningful legacy.

His story illustrates the potential that "ordinary" men and women have, to go beyond, to reach their full potential and operate at peak performance.

He fearlessly takes risks of going beyond "this is how we always do things," to create new and limitless possibilities with endless opportunities. Creating a huge space for personal and professional growth. A space for all to bloom and thrive.

Here are six steps to help you grow, bloom, thrive and lead as a whole and authentic person:

1: Authenticity is key. It requires you to be , , an alignment, and congruence of the inner and outer person. More often than not, the authentic person's beliefs, values, principles and behavior tend to line up. Commonly referred to as "walking your talk," and "being your talk". Embrace the life-long process of unfolding your strengths and acknowledging your vulnerabilities as a leader.

2 Purpose is the voice of authentic leadership. When a leader's voice lacks power and impact, it's often a symptom of disconnection from personal purpose. When a leader's voice is strong, it often represents a personal connection to the leader's unique life experience and can be tangibly felt by all. For our voice to be strong, the music in our heart must be clearly heard. Identify your purpose- know what you stand for as a leader, remind yourself of what is important to you, based on the lessons your life experiences have taught you.

3: Essence is the soul of leadership; it is spirit expressing itself through the leader. Essence is the transformational force in our lives, whereas ego is the coping force. Essence is within us, attune your live to its silent power. Gain its support for all you we do. Ego, on the other hand, is the sense of limited individuality. It is the coping mechanism that seeks security and tries to grab what it can of life's fleeting pleasures and treasures. We all operate from both ego and essence. At times we are overdeveloped in our identification with ego and under- developed in our identification with essence - our connection to the whole of life. Recognize the mode you and to shift to essence and authenticity . Pay close attention to the role ego and the qualities of essence in your life and leadership.

4: Relationship. Connection is the foundation and glue of leadership, bonding parts and promoting wholeness. Too often, when we think of the word connection, we think of being connected with something - outside of ourselves. Outer connection rests on inner connection. Relationships begin with our self and extend outward to others. It rests upon the inner self-relationship work that we do in achieving essence, purpose, and authenticity. Leadership is in relationship; learn to leverage the power of connection and enhance your value creation.

5: Value Creation.. Value creation goes beyond getting financial results. Financial results are not enough; financial results are the fuel of organizations. Learn how to be sustainable. Learn how to make your financial results serve shareholders, employees, customers, and environmental needs.

New leaders need to create balanced measures to achieve financial results while serving the needs of self, others, and the whole. Finding creative, -enriching ways to serve all these elements is a challenge for authentic leaders' today. Good leaders get results; great leaders get sustainable results by serving the interests of all concerned.

6: Getting the support you need. Leadership Coaching and continuous learning promote growth. They provide sustainability to our leadership and perpetuate ongoing value creation. Coaching is the art of assisting high performance individuals who want to achieve and succeed- who want to be coached to reach their full potential and operate at peak performance. Coaching is the gentle yet firm hand of leadership guiding the way. A coach is your biggest fan, you are there main focus. A coach is manager, mentor and personal trainer guiding you to set powerful and meaningful goal, develop a strategic action plan that keeps you in action on a positive course that brings sustainable positive results.

Discover the authentic leader within you- Stop Struggling, Start Coaching, be the leader within you and change the world.