www.hbr.org We all have the capacity to inspire and empower others. Discovering Your But we must first be willing to devote ourselves to our Authentic Leadership personal growth and development as leaders. by Bill George, Peter Sims, Andrew N. McLean, and Diana Mayer Reprint R0702H We all have the capacity to inspire and empower others. But we must first be willing to devote ourselves to our personal growth and development as leaders. Discovering Your Authentic Leadership by Bill George, Peter Sims, Andrew N. McLean, and Diana Mayer During the past 50 years, leadership scholars Over the past five years, people have devel- have conducted more than 1,000 studies in an oped a deep distrust of leaders. It is increas- attempt to determine the definitive styles, ingly evident that we need a new kind of busi- characteristics, or personality traits of great ness leader in the twenty-first century. In 2003, leaders. None of these studies has produced a Bill George’s book, Authentic Leadership: Redis- clear profile of the ideal leader. Thank good- covering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value, ness. If scholars had produced a cookie-cutter challenged a new generation to lead authenti- leadership style, individuals would be forever cally. Authentic leaders demonstrate a passion trying to imitate it. They would make them- for their purpose, practice their values consis- selves into personae, not people, and others tently, and lead with their hearts as well as would see through them immediately. their heads. They establish long-term, mean- No one can be authentic by trying to imitate ingful relationships and have the self-discipline someone else. You can learn from others’ expe- to get results. They know who they are. riences, but there is no way you can be success- Many readers of Authentic Leadership, in- ful when you are trying to be like them. People cluding several CEOs, indicated that they had a trust you when you are genuine and authentic, tremendous desire to become authentic lead- not a replica of someone else. Amgen CEO and ers and wanted to know how. As a result, our president Kevin Sharer, who gained priceless research team set out to answer the question, experience working as Jack Welch’s assistant in “How can people become and remain authen- the 1980s, saw the downside of GE’s cult of per- tic leaders?” We interviewed 125 leaders to sonality in those days. “Everyone wanted to be learn how they developed their leadership abil- like Jack,” he explains. “Leadership has many ities. These interviews constitute the largest in- voices. You need to be who you are, not try to depth study of leadership development ever emulate somebody else.” undertaken. Our interviewees discussed openly OPYRIGHT © 2007 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OPYRIGHT © 2007 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. C harvard business review • hbr.org • february 2007 page 1 Discovering Your Authentic Leadership and honestly how they realized their potential hand you a development plan. You need to and candidly shared their life stories, personal take responsibility for developing yourself.” struggles, failures, and triumphs. In the following pages, we draw upon les- The people we talked with ranged in age sons from our interviews to describe how peo- from 23 to 93, with no fewer than 15 per de- ple become authentic leaders. First and most cade. They were chosen based on their reputa- important, they frame their life stories in ways tions for authenticity and effectiveness as that allow them to see themselves not as pas- leaders, as well as our personal knowledge sive observers of their lives but rather as indi- of them. We also solicited recommendations viduals who can develop self-awareness from from other leaders and academics. The result- their experiences. Authentic leaders act on ing group includes women and men from a di- that awareness by practicing their values and verse array of racial, religious, and socioeco- principles, sometimes at substantial risk to nomic backgrounds and nationalities. Half of themselves. They are careful to balance their them are CEOs, and the other half comprises motivations so that they are driven by these a range of profit and nonprofit leaders, midca- inner values as much as by a desire for external reer leaders, and young leaders just starting rewards or recognition. Authentic leaders also on their journeys. keep a strong support team around them, en- After interviewing these individuals, we be- suring that they live integrated, grounded lives. lieve we understand why more than 1,000 stud- ies have not produced a profile of an ideal Learning from Your Life Story leader. Analyzing 3,000 pages of transcripts, The journey to authentic leadership begins our team was startled to see that these people with understanding the story of your life. Your did not identify any universal characteristics, life story provides the context for your experi- traits, skills, or styles that led to their success. ences, and through it, you can find the inspira- Rather, their leadership emerged from their tion to make an impact in the world. As the life stories. Consciously and subconsciously, novelist John Barth once wrote, “The story of they were constantly testing themselves through your life is not your life. It is your story.” In real-world experiences and reframing their life other words, it is your personal narrative that stories to understand who they were at their matters, not the mere facts of your life. Your core. In doing so, they discovered the purpose life narrative is like a permanent recording of their leadership and learned that being au- playing in your head. Over and over, you re- thentic made them more effective. play the events and personal interactions that These findings are extremely encouraging: are important to your life, attempting to make You do not have to be born with specific char- sense of them to find your place in the world. acteristics or traits of a leader. You do not have While the life stories of authentic leaders to wait for a tap on the shoulder. You do not cover the full spectrum of experiences— have to be at the top of your organization. In- including the positive impact of parents, ath- stead, you can discover your potential right letic coaches, teachers, and mentors—many now. As one of our interviewees, Young & leaders reported that their motivation came Bill George, the former chairman and Rubicam chairman and CEO Ann Fudge, said, from a difficult experience in their lives. They CEO of Medtronic, is a professor of “All of us have the spark of leadership in us, described the transformative effects of the loss management practice at Harvard Busi- whether it is in business, in government, or of a job; personal illness; the untimely death of ness School in Boston. Peter Sims es- as a nonprofit volunteer. The challenge is to a close friend or relative; and feelings of being tablished “Leadership Perspectives,” a understand ourselves well enough to discover excluded, discriminated against, and rejected class on leadership development at the where we can use our leadership gifts to by peers. Rather than seeing themselves as vic- Stanford Graduate School of Business serve others.” tims, though, authentic leaders used these for- in California. Andrew N. McLean is a Discovering your authentic leadership re- mative experiences to give meaning to their research associate at Harvard Business quires a commitment to developing yourself. lives. They reframed these events to rise above School. Diana Mayer is a former Citi- Like musicians and athletes, you must devote their challenges and to discover their passion group executive in New York. This arti- yourself to a lifetime of realizing your poten- to lead. cle was adapted from True North: tial. Most people Kroger CEO David Dillon has Let’s focus now on one leader in particular, Discover Your Authentic Leadership by seen become good leaders were self-taught. Novartis chairman and CEO Daniel Vasella, Bill George with Peter Sims (Jossey- Dillon said, “The advice I give to individuals in whose life story was one of the most difficult of Bass, forthcoming in March 2007). our company is not to expect the company to all the people we interviewed. He emerged harvard business review • hbr.org • february 2007 page 2 Discovering Your Authentic Leadership from extreme challenges in his youth to reach an individual practitioner. Upon completion of the pinnacle of the global pharmaceutical in- his residency, he applied to become chief phy- dustry, a trajectory that illustrates the trials sician at the University of Zurich; however, the many leaders have to go through on their jour- search committee considered him too young neys to authentic leadership. for the position. Vasella was born in 1953 to a modest fam- Disappointed but not surprised, Vasella de- ily in Fribourg, Switzerland. His early years cided to use his abilities to increase his impact were filled with medical problems that stoked on medicine. At that time, he had a growing his passion to become a physician. His first fascination with finance and business. He recollections were of a hospital where he was talked with the head of the pharmaceutical di- admitted at age four when he suffered from vision of Sandoz, who offered him the oppor- food poisoning. Falling ill with asthma at age tunity to join the company’s U.S. affiliate. In five, he was sent alone to the mountains of his five years in the United States, Vasella flour- eastern Switzerland for two summers. He ished in the stimulating environment, first as a found the four-month separations from his sales representative and later as a product parents especially difficult because his care- manager, and advanced rapidly through the taker had an alcohol problem and was unre- Sandoz marketing organization.