Week 1: Why Is Authenticity Important to YOU?

Welcome to Week 1 of the Authenticity@Work Leadership Tool-kit! My intention for this series is to share a quick tool each week to help you lead with more authenticity, adaptability and inspiration so we can together create workplaces where we bring the best of ourselves and inspire others. So grab a journal and an accountability partner to make these practices even more powerful for you!

They say that you teach what you need to learn. Writing Wired for Authenticity has made me notice all the fears that stand in the way of my being authentic. In the book I describe authenticity as a moment by moment choice to act from our most inspired and alive selves. Many of these challenges are what my executive coaching clients share with me in their most vulnerable moments. What I realized about authenticity is that when I am inauthentic it is an act of betraying myself.

Suppressing who we are to fit in is exhausting. It kills flow and creativity. It also prevents genuine connection with others, which is critical to engaging and influencing others. Read on to get this week’s tools.

Workplace Challenges To Authenticity

As I connected with leaders around the world, across generations, and in large companies and small to get their perspectives on this topic, here are the questions that kept coming up about authenticity in our work and our lives.

• My company is constantly restructuring. I need to hold on to my job for financial security, but what I’m being asked to do just isn’t right for me. Do I quit?
• I want to succeed in my job, but I feel what I have to do to do well is just not me! To be who I’m not is exhausting. What do I do?
• I need to restructure my organization, but I feel bad about letting good people go. Where do my personal values fit in?
• My organization is going through so much restructuring. I feel like I can’t really express my point of view in this high-risk environment. What do I do?
• My work is important to me, but the 24/7 demands are overwhelming. I have other commitments that are important. How do I choose between work and life?

At the root of a lot of our own inauthenticity is our fear! And we often pay the price for that.

This Week’s Tool:

Questions to ask yourself :

• What is important about authenticity to me personally?
• What will be the benefits of moving toward greater authenticity to me and those I want to influence?
• What are the costs to me when I am inauthentic?

Write your answers in your journal, share them with your accountability partner, or share them below with our community in the comments. Trust me! Finding an accountability partner will really serve you in this process.

Tool: Take the Wired for Authenticity authenticity assessment and review the places where you’re strong and what challenges your authenticity. You can share this tool with others and invite them to join you in this journey.

Join our Authenticity@Work community and share your responses on the blog post directly. Get the latest resources for Authenticity@Work (this tab will get updated with all kinds of cool resources). Curious to know more about the book? Read the reviews about Wired for Authenticity here.

This article was written by Henna Inam, C-level executive coach, global speaker, and author of the book Wired for Disruption. She helps leaders grow their agility to be a force for good and thrive in times of change. They create organizations that drive breakthroughs in innovation, growth, and engagement. In roles including Head E-Innovation and Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer, Henna drove transformation throughout her 20-year corporate career as an executive with Fortune 500 companies. Join the thousands who follow her blog here. Connect on Linkedin.