One night long ago, a camel was freezing in the cold desert. He asked his master if he could just put his nose inside the tent for a bit of warmth. The master thought there would be no harm in that and agreed. Some time later, the camel asked if he could put his head in the tent. The man again agreed and the camel stretched his head into the tent. More time passed. The camel inquired if he may also bring his neck and front legs inside. It had not been a problem so far, so the man again agreed. Finally, the camel asked, “May I not stand wholly within?” With pity, the master beckoned him into the warm tent. But once the camel came forward it became clear that the tent was too small for both of them. “I think,” the camel said, “that there is not room for both of us here. Since you are smaller, it will be best for you to stand outside so there will then be room enough for me.” And with that, the man found himself standing outside in the cold desert. [Adapted from the art of boring blog, accessed 1/22/21]

The noise level coming from the beating drums of coaches and consultants around the topic of authentic leadership has become almost deafening. I am not sure how we got here, but suddenly authenticity seems to be Leadership's sine qua non.

But what is authenticity anyway? And who decides where to draw the line? If we want to get somewhere on this, we won't unless we, like in those math classes, define our terms.

Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor at Stanford, takes on authentic leadership as another in a long line of poorly-thought-through corporate fashions in his book Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time. He asks rhetorically, what entrepreneur has not lied to her/his Board and/or employees to keep the lights on and stay in the fight a couple more months? Honestly, would an authentic leadership advocate have advised them not to do that and just let the chips fall where they may?

Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit had stopped paying his six employees because he ran out of money. "You're not fired," he said. "I just don't have any money to pay you." A banker and potential customer called and asked how it was going. Scott enthusiastically replied, "Things couldn't be better!" One of his employees in the cramped office overheard Scott and thought to himself, "Ya it could. We could be getting paid." N=1, but that misrepresentation worked out alright...on multiple levels, for all of Intuit's stakeholders, especially customers.

What entrepreneur has not lied to her/his Board and/or employees to keep the lights on and stay in the fight a couple more months? Honestly, would an authentic leadership advocate have advised them not to do that and just let the chips fall where they may?

‍This choice about how one should show up day-to-day is omnipresent, but it was brought into graphic relief when the pandemic hit.

Consider two possible scenarios.

When the economic lights went out, one hypothetical CEO earnestly shared all his feelings. He regularly told everyone how frozen with fear he was, about the fact that he was self-medicating, and that he was having trouble sleeping at night and getting up in the morning to face the team.

True feelings. True thoughts. Authentic, sure. But in service of what?

A second hypothetical CEO kept her fears and doubts largely to herself in front of employees and around her team. Instead, she chose to work those fears and doubts offline with a coach, with friends, and with her trusted advisors. She chose to calmly, steadily try to make the best decisions for all her stakeholders as she could with the information at hand and with her fears and doubts held in check in the background.

Less real...less authentic, no? But it's clearer to me who and what she is trying to serve.

I personally don't advocate for authentic leadership. Nor do I advocate against it. In my view, the problem arises when authentic leadership is what you start solving for instead of solving for the best way to get balanced results for all stakeholders.

‍Don't worry. I hear you howling out there.

Of course, there is a middle ground. Of course there is a way to share ones true thoughts and feelings about a situation, especially when trying to empathize with someone else's challenges or find our common humanity or build trust. And of course there is a way to do that without bleeding out in front of everyone around you.

But many would argue that if you are not fully revealed, that is not authentic leadership.

I personally don't advocate for authentic leadership. Nor do I advocate against it. In my view, the problem arises when authentic leadership is what you start solving for instead of solving for the best way to get balanced results for all stakeholders.

For example, I don't want President Joe Biden to share with me that he is scared witless about the confluence of environmental, civil, economic, medical, security, domestic terrorist, international alliance, and bad actor challenges that he is staring down the barrel of as he takes office.

I want him to work any inner doubts or fears he might be having offline with his wife or with Kamala, or with former President Obama and his other advisors. I want him to spend the bulk of his time in office doing the best he can to make decisions that balance the needs of citizens, communities, states, our nation, the economy, the world, and the environment. I want him to express confidence about the future, even in those moments when he is not feeling it.

But for you that might be inauthentic and thus sub-optimal.

And, you see, there's the rub.

Leadership authenticity is exactly like the old parable about the nose-of-the-camel.

Almost everyone can agree that having the nose of the camel in the tent...some authenticity, especially in the service of empathy, transparency and connection...is great.

And almost everyone can also agree that having the hindquarters of the camel in the tent...total authenticity, a leader revealing all his/her innermost thoughts and feelings...would probably be untenable, maybe even a godawful mess.

All the Sturm und Drang about authentic leadership then comes down arguing about this: where should we put the hump?

I will let the rest of you try to reach consensus on that.

I'll be rootin' for Joe to start putting points on the board...for all of us...whether he's an authentic leader or not.