Authenticity and integrity
To attract followers, a leader has to be many things to many people. The trick is to pull that off while remaining true to yourself.
Although only a few of the CEOs used the word “authenticity” nearly all of them stressed the importance, but also the difficulty of staying true to yourself – your beliefs and values during periods of difficult changes.
Most of them admitted that sometimes you need to make changes which you are not 100% convinced about yourself, but that you still need to be able to look yourself in the mirror by the end of the day.
- Be clear and open about your own values
- Know what you are not willing to compromise on
- “Walk the talk” – never ask others to do things that you are not prepared to do yourself
- Be honest and open (without being naive) about your own shortcomings – do not pretend to know everything
- Make “trust” a key topic in your leadership team.