True North
Discover your Authentic Leadership

Book Synopsis:

An enormous leadership vacuum exists today - in business, politics, government, education, religion, and nonprofit organizations. Yet there is no shortage of people with the capacity for leadership. The problem is that we have a wrongheaded notion of what constitutes a leader, driven by an obsession with leaders at the top. That misguided standard often results in the wrong people attaining critical leadership roles.
 
Given the growing leadership crisis, it has become increasingly evident that a new kind of business leader is needed in the 21st century. In 2003, Bill George's bestselling book, Authentic Leadership, challenged the new generation of leaders to lead authentically. The feedback from readers, including many CEOs, was that they had a tremendous desire to be authentic leaders and many of them asked how they could become such a leader.  Jim Collins raised a similar question in Good to Great, "Can you learn to become Level 5 [leader]?" His reply: "I still do not know the answer."  
 
True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership uses face-to-face research on the lives of 125 authentic leaders to demonstrate conclusively how readers can become authentic leaders. These interviews constitute the largest in-depth study of leadership development ever undertaken. The interviewees discussed openly and honestly how they developed their leadership, and candidly shared their life stories, personal struggles, failures, and triumphs. The book will be published by Jossey-Bass in March 2007.
 
In large part the leadership vacuum has resulted from a misunderstanding of what constitutes an effective leader. During the past fifty years, leadership scholars have conducted more than one thousand studies in the attempt to determine the definitive leadership styles, characteristics, or personality traits of great leaders. None of these studies has produced a clear profile of the ideal leader.
 
The reality is that no one can be authentic by trying to imitate someone else. You can learn from others' experiences, but there is no way you can be successful when you are trying to be like them.  People trust you when you are genuine and authentic, not a replica of someone else. Amgen Chairman & CEO Kevin Sharer, who gained priceless experience working as Jack Welch's assistant in the 1980s, saw the downside of GE's cult of personality in those days. "Everyone wanted to be like Jack," he explained. "Leadership has many voices. You need to be who you are, not try to emulate somebody else."
 
Authentic leaders are genuine people who are true to themselves and to what they believe in. They engender trust and develop genuine connections with others. Because people trust them, they are able to motivate them to high levels of performance. Rather than letting the expectations of others guide them, they are prepared to be their own person and go their own way. As they develop as authentic leaders, they are more concerned about serving others than they are about their own success or recognition.
 
This is not to say that authentic leaders are perfect. Far from it. Every leader has weaknesses, and all are subject to human frailties and mistakes. Yet by acknowledging their shortcomings and admitting their errors, they connect with people and empower them.
 
The leaders we talked with ranged in age from twenty-three to ninety-three, with no fewer than fifteen per decade. They were chosen based on their reputations for authenticity and effectiveness as leaders, as well as our personal knowledge of them. We also solicited recommendations from other leaders and academics. The resulting group of interviewees is a diverse group of women and men from an array of racial, religious, socioeconomic backgrounds, and nationalities. Half are CEOs, and the other half includes a range of profit and nonprofit leaders, mid-career leaders, and young leaders just starting on their journeys.
 
After interviewing these leaders, we believe we understand why the thousands of studies have not produced the profile of an ideal leader. Analyzing 3,000 pages of transcripts, we were startled to see that these leaders did not identify any characteristics, traits, skills, or styles that led to their success. Rather, their leadership emerged from their life stories. By constantly testing themselves through real-world experiences and by reframing their life stories to understand who they are, these leaders unleashed their passions and discovered the purpose of their leadership. Without exception, the leaders we interviewed believe that being authentic makes them more effective and successful.

These findings are extremely encouraging: You do not have to be born with specific characteristics or traits of a leader. You do not have to wait for a tap on the shoulder. You do not have to be at the top of your organization. Instead, you can discover your potential leadership right now. As one of our interviewees, Young & Rubicam CEO Ann Fudge, said, "All of us have the spark of leadership in us, whether it is in business, in government, or as a nonprofit volunteer. The challenge is to understand ourselves well enough to discover where we can use our leadership gifts to serve others."

There is no map that can show you where to go on your leadership journey, so you need an internal compass to keep you focused on your True North. The key is to take responsibility for your own leadership development, and True North shows you how. True North presents a concrete and comprehensive program for leadership success, showing readers how to create their own Personal Leadership Development Plan centered on five key areas.
 
First, these people frame their stories so that they do not see themselves as passive observers of their lives but rather as individuals who develop self awareness from their experiences and shape their futures.  Authentic leaders have a keen understanding of their values and principles and practice them consistently, sometimes at substantial risk to themselves. They are careful to balance their motivations so that they are driven by these inner values as much as by a desire for external rewards or recognition. Authentic leaders build a strong support team around them, and they live integrated, well-grounded lives.
 
Part One of True North examines the journey to authentic leadership. It begins with the leaders' life stories, which is unique to them and more powerful than any set of characteristics or leadership skills they possess. Next, the three phases of the leader's journey are dissected, looking at the key steps in each phase of the journey. During their journeys, many leaders lose their way and end up being derailed. To understand how this happens, we describe five types of leaders who see themselves as heroes of their own journeys. By exploring the life-changing experiences leaders have had, we see how they made the transformation from "I" to "We" and learned the importance of empowering others to lead.
 
Part Two provides the compass and the development plan to stay true to who you are while you confront the challenges in the world around you. It includes five key areas of your development as a leader: self-awareness at the center of your compass, and at the four points: your values and principles, your motivations, your support team, and integration of your life.
 
Part Three describes how you can follow your passions to discover the purpose of your leadership. It illustrates how to empower other people to step up and lead by inspiring them around a shared purpose. Finally, it addresses how you can achieve superior results through your organization by optimizing your leadership effectiveness.