Authentic Leadership Style Essay

While due to the reason that Authentic Leadership is still in the formative phase, the textbook by Northouse provides different definitions of this type of leadership depending on the viewpoints that make this leadership style very broad compared to other more defined leadership styles, I do find Authentic Leadership as a compelling theory. While it is a broad style, it is also very complete by having different approaches that fulfill the goal of explaining the different components of this style. This leadership style has four skills need as Northouse (2016) describes that “ it is important for leaders to have self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and a relational transparency to be authentic” (pg. 206), as

When I started as an intern at a health study I had one supervisor, but what I did not know until after being there for two months, was that the project manager was someone else who was on maternity leave when I was hired. It was hard for me to see that person as my supervisor and leader, since according to what I had experienced my previous supervisor was a great leader for the study and for the interns. But as I started knowing the manager after she came back from maternity leave, I realized that the reason why she was the manager and not the other person was that she was authentic, and had the capacities, moral reasoning, self confidence, and transparency to make decisions, establish a plan, and have good communication and relationship with the study participants and interns. As Northouse (2016) describes that “authenticity requires leaders to do what is “right” and “good” for their followers and society. Authentic leaders understand their own values, place followers’ needs above their own, and work with followers to align their interests in order to create a greater common good” (pgs. 206-207), making this theory a complete type of leadership style that involves a trustworthy leader closely involved with his