By whatever metrics you choose to measure, to be a leader, you must inject bits and pieces of yourself into the whole. That means your management style , the biases that influence your decision -making and the doors of perception you filter the human and work experience through make up part of who you are and how you affect your colleagues and the company as a whole.
The question is not whether to bring your authenticity and truth to the workplace , you must. The real question is when to lead with your truth , where to let your authenticity shine and how to apply yourself when in charge of a diverse group of people. Today, leaders prefer safe options (even when they have better ideas in mind) when faced with a decision to avoid breaking rank with the majority.
As your PR counsel ,I will remind you that , trusted decision-makers encourage competition as much as compromise , and friendly disagreement as much as consensus at the work place.
In the complex environment that business leaders operate in today, your unique experiences ,better instincts and skills accumulated over years are the not-so-secret sauce to earning your colleagues trust , standing out as a leader and making decisions that actually transform a business and innovate its brand. Think of the late Bob Collymore.
At times, this means publicly releasing your actual salary and net worth in the spirit of transparency and combating the corporate-greed narrative, paying your employees their fair share, sacrificing for the good of the company or accepting the ways things are done. At other times it means standing up for what we believe in , lobbying the board and shareholders for a cause or refusing to go along with the “higher ups”.
As Gen -Z and Millennials reshape organizational culture across the globe, the best way to lead a group , innovate a brand and set in motion impactful change not to mention drive up your company’s commercial gain, is to be true to yourself.
Do you bring your individuality(personal brand) to the decision-making table or do you surrender it right before the work day begins?
Let’s chat,
Val.
