In search of the authentic leader in you
When was the last time you asked yourself the reason you do what you do? Are you very successful by our culture’s standards but feeling empty nevertheless? Do you find it difficult to inspire yourself and others? Outwardly you make the right decisions, you create profit for your company, and you seem to do everything “right” yet you feel incomplete. You are just beginning to notice a discomfort or uneasiness but you cannot define it. You have forgotten why it is you do what you do and you have just realized that you no longer have an answer to this question.
Perhaps you are now faced with the next chapter of your life. Some call this retirement but it appears that no one is retiring in the traditional sense. The firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas has now tracked 692 CEO changes in 2012, 2.5 percent lower than the 710 CEO departures recorded during the same period in 2011. Thirty CEOs cited resignation as the reason for their departures last month, and this continues to be the most cited reason for leaving; 205 CEOs have resigned during the first seven months of 2012, according to Challenger data. Retirement is the next highest cited reason for leaving, with Challenger noting 143 retirements in 2012, only six of which came in July. To date, 114 chief executives, including 15 in July, stepped down, usually staying with the company as a board member or other C-level executive.
What does this mean for you? You may have been on a path, more like a treadmill, for so long without reflecting on what you really want beyond the title CEO. What you may not realize is this is the beginning of a transition. This is what Joseph Campbell calls The Hero’s Journey.
It is an archetypal journey where the Hero or Heroine is called upon to take some bold action.
They may well be reluctant yet they are guided by something powerful to take the journey.
This journey is one to reclaim one’s authentic self. To do so the Hero/ine must venture into the dark underworld where he/she must learn something or obtain something of great value. Here they experience trials and meet with demons and allies that help reveal to them gifts that they may not have acknowledged or embraced. At one point they are confronted with an ordeal that dissolves their identity, a virtual death that leads to an expanded consciousness of who they are. This wisdom gained allows them to return to the world with new knowledge about themselves and how they can serve their community.
When you define yourself by your title, limiting your sense of self to one aspect of your life, you lose touch with the strength that experience and authenticity provides. Leadership is as much a way of being as a way of doing. To access this authentic leader in yourself outside of your managing role, you will eventually take the Hero’s Journey. You may not do this willingly. Your organization may provide a challenge or something in your personal life will be the catalyst for this call to re-evaluate. As you near this stage of your life ask yourself “What do I care enough about to bring it into being?” “What matters enough for me to take this risk?” “What is the sum of who I am and how can I continue to contribute from a holistic perspective?”
The transition to authenticity that is not defined by title or role inevitably includes dissolution of old ways of being and attachments to an old identity to which you no longer belong. Wisdom comes through an inner dialogue with the true self. It takes self-awareness and courage to engage in this dialogue. It changes who you believe you are and in that moment of letting go of an old identity, you experience what feels like death. If you let go of your identity as a successful “X” and all the attachments associated with being “X”, then who are you? If you define yourself by your success or your competency or your power and you are no longer successful / competent / powerful then who are you? This is the knowledge that you will discover through the Hero’s Journey. You are more than your title, more than your work. Authentic leaders know who they are essentially, are aware of and acknowledge the shadow side and leverage their gifts and talents in service of others. Aligning with your authenticity you are then poised to create value and meaning for people, organizations and communities. People recognize this authenticity and are drawn to it.
At the Center for Authentic Leadership in Atlanta they believe that “the measure of a man or woman is more than the sum of one’s words or deeds. It is the impact of who we are being as we speak and act that leaves the greatest imprint on others… Much of how we learned to think and act was shaped from our childhood experiences.” To be an authentic leader is to sift through a lifetime of beliefs about who you are or should be that may have been passed to you by your culture, your parents, your profession or in numerous other ways. The Hero’s Journey makes conscious the unconscious beliefs and thinking that drive your behaviors. Until you realize the thoughts that drive your behaviors you cannot sustainably embrace all aspects of yourself. You have come to believe these as the truth about who you are when indeed they may be far from the truth. And in releasing your attachments to these beliefs you metaphorically die and are reborn more secure, confident and joyful.
As you contemplate your next chapter what matters enough to you to risk releasing the ways of being that keep you tied to an old identity? How expansive do you want this next chapter to be? There is boldness in that! Create that! This is where you will find meaning and personal fulfillment beyond the cultural definitions of what it means to succeed. This is how you can impact the world.
By Alicia M. Rodriguez, M.A., P.C.C.
Alicia is the founder of Sophia Associates, Inc., an international executive and leadership coaching practice dedicated to enhancing leadership competencies, strengthening executive performance levels, creating opportunities for personal learning and developing high performing teams.More info
Visit her site: sophia-associates.com
Pictures: Filmagen
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