Authentic Leadership: Why Being Yourself Is Not Always Enough
Insights on psychometric assessment, personality, emotional intelligence, leadership, workplace development and the effective use of assessment feedback.
Authenticity has become one of the most widely promoted principles of modern leadership. Leaders are encouraged to be themselves, speak honestly, share their feelings and bring their “whole selves” to work.
There is much to value in this advice. People generally prefer leaders who appear genuine rather than artificial. Acting consistently with our values can support confidence, trust and personal well-being. Leaders who acknowledge uncertainty or admit mistakes may also make it easier for other people to do the same.
But authenticity can become problematic when it is interpreted as permission to express every opinion, emotion or preference without considering its effect on others.
When authenticity backfires
In his Harvard Business Review article When Authentic Leadership Backfires, psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic questions the assumption that being true to yourself will necessarily make you a more effective leader.
He distinguishes between behavior that feels authentic to us and behavior that other people experience as appropriate, competent and considerate. These are not always the same.
A manager who expresses frustration openly may feel that they are being honest, while colleagues experience the behavior as volatile or intimidating. A leader who gives blunt feedback may regard this as admirable candor, while the recipient sees insensitivity. Someone who talks openly about their uncertainty may hope to demonstrate vulnerability but inadvertently weaken the team’s confidence in their ability to provide direction.
The problem is not authenticity itself. It is failing to recognize that our behavior has consequences beyond how it makes us feel.
Intention and impact
Most people judge their behavior partly by their intentions. We know what we meant to communicate and why we behaved as we did. Other people cannot see those intentions. They experience our words, actions and emotional reactions.
This creates a potential gap between intention and impact. Confidence may be experienced as arrogance, decisiveness as impatience, directness as insensitivity and independence as unwillingness to collaborate. Emotional openness may be experienced as instability, while humor may be perceived as dismissive or inappropriate.
Saying “That is just who I am” may explain a behavior, but it does not necessarily justify it. Leadership carries a responsibility to consider how personal behavior affects colleagues, relationships and performance.
Personality influences behavior but does not dictate it
Personality assessments can help people understand their characteristic ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. They may reveal, for example, that someone is naturally direct, independent, emotionally expressive, cautious, competitive or socially confident.
These characteristics are not inherently good or bad. Their value depends partly on the circumstances in which they are expressed. A direct style can help a leader communicate clearly and address problems promptly. The same quality can damage relationships if it is not accompanied by tact. Independence can support initiative and personal responsibility but become a disadvantage when consultation and cooperation are required.
The MySkillsProfile Work Personality Survey helps individuals explore these characteristic tendencies and consider how they might affect performance and relationships. It does not define a fixed or unchangeable “true self.” Instead, it provides a framework for understanding preferred behavior and making more informed choices about how to respond.
Personality may influence what comes naturally, but it does not determine what we must do in every situation.
Emotional intelligence and considered authenticity
Adapting our behavior does not necessarily mean being false or dishonest. It can be evidence of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence involves recognizing our feelings, regulating our responses, understanding other people and selecting behavior appropriate to the situation. It allows us to remain honest without imposing every unfiltered reaction on those around us.
A leader can acknowledge frustration without expressing it aggressively. They can disagree without humiliating a colleague. They can admit uncertainty while still providing direction. They can share personal difficulties selectively without transferring responsibility for those difficulties to the team.
The MySkillsProfile Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire can help people explore capabilities such as emotional self-awareness, self-control, empathy, adaptability and relationship management. These capabilities help leaders decide not only what they want to communicate, but also when and how to communicate it.
Emotional regulation should not be confused with emotional suppression. The purpose is not to conceal every feeling or construct a false personality. It is to express ourselves in ways that are honest, proportionate and constructive.
Effective leaders expand their behavioral range
Leadership frequently requires people to behave differently from their natural preferences.
A naturally decisive leader may sometimes need to pause and consult. A supportive leader may need to challenge poor performance. A democratic leader may occasionally have to make an unpopular decision. Someone who prefers informal relationships must recognize situations requiring greater professional distance.
This does not mean abandoning personal values. It means developing a sufficiently broad range of behaviors to meet different demands.
MySkillsProfile leadership assessments, including the Leadership Potential Indicator and Management and Leadership Questionnaire, can help individuals examine their preferred approaches, recognize styles they may overuse and identify behaviors they need to develop. The objective is not to produce a standard leadership personality. It is to help people become more flexible and effective while retaining a clear sense of their principles and purpose.
Why feedback from other people matters
Self-assessment alone cannot reveal the full effect of our behavior. We may believe that we are approachable, candid or inspiring without knowing whether other people experience us in that way.
This is where 360-degree feedback is particularly valuable. Feedback from managers, colleagues and direct reports can identify differences between how leaders see themselves and how their behavior is perceived by others.
These differences do not automatically mean that either perspective is wrong. They help us ask whether behavior is having the intended effect, whether it works with some people but not others, whether a valuable strength is being overused and whether a different approach might produce a better result.
Self-awareness becomes more complete when knowledge of our intentions is combined with evidence about how other people experience us.
Using AI to explore authenticity and adaptability
ChatGPT and similar AI tools can help assessment participants explore these questions in greater depth. With appropriate safeguards for privacy and confidentiality, users can ask AI to examine assessment findings, identify possible gaps between intention and impact, and suggest alternative ways of responding.
Useful prompts might include:
“My assessment suggests that I am highly direct and independent. How might these qualities help me as a leader, and in what situations might they be perceived negatively?”
“Compare my self-ratings with the feedback provided by my colleagues. What are the most important differences between how I see myself and how others experience my behavior?”
“Help me find three ways to express disagreement honestly while remaining constructive and respectful.”
AI-generated interpretations should always be checked against the original report and considered alongside experience, context and feedback from other people. AI can support reflection, but it cannot determine a leader’s motives, understand every aspect of a relationship or replace professional judgment. Our ChatGPT Analysis Guide explains how to use this approach responsibly.
Pause, consider and choose
A simple four-stage process can help people balance authenticity with adaptability:
- Notice: What am I feeling, and what do I instinctively want to say or do?
- Consider: What does this situation require, and how might other people interpret my response?
- Choose: How can I respond honestly while remaining constructive and appropriate?
- Review: Did my behavior have the effect I intended, and what can I learn from the outcome?
Even a brief pause between impulse and action can create space for a more effective response.
A more mature form of authenticity
The choice is not between authenticity and deception. Leaders do not have to choose between expressing every reaction and presenting a completely artificial version of themselves.
A more mature form of authenticity combines personal values with self-awareness, emotional intelligence and behavioral flexibility. It recognizes that being genuine does not remove our responsibility to consider other people.
Effective leaders understand their natural tendencies, but they are not controlled by them. They pay attention to how their behavior is experienced and adapt when the situation requires it. They do not abandon who they are. They learn how to express who they are more thoughtfully and effectively.
MySkillsProfile personality, emotional-intelligence, leadership and 360-degree assessments provide structured evidence to support this process. Used alongside informed discussion and responsible AI-assisted reflection, they can help individuals understand not only who they are, but also how to bring out their best in different situations.