Authentic leadership through being rather than doing
Many individuals find themselves appointed to leadership positions, yet true leadership extends far beyond a job title or organisational hierarchy. At its heart, leadership begins with intention - a conscious decision to show up authentically and be vulnerable with those around us. When we choose to be human first, acknowledging our strengths and limitations openly, we create meaningful connections and model the behaviour we wish to see.
Here, I explore the crucial difference between occupying a leadership position and embodying genuine leadership qualities, examining how authentic leadership manifests through intention, mindset, and impact rather than authority or rank.
The distinction between position and leadership
True leadership transcends organisational charts and formal authority. Through my experience with Co-Active Training Institute (CTi), I discovered that leadership manifests in multiple dimensions: leading from the front, from behind, from beside, and from the field. Each position offers unique opportunities to influence and support others.
· Leading from the front might mean taking initiative or charting a new course.
· Leading from behind involves supporting others' growth and development.
· Beside leadership creates partnerships and collaboration.
· Field leadership acknowledges our role in the broader system and how we influence the environment around us.
Consider a team member who lacks formal authority but consistently demonstrates leadership by mentoring colleagues, suggesting process improvements, or maintaining team morale during challenging times. These everyday actions exemplify leadership through influence rather than position.
The impact of mindset
Our mindset fundamentally shapes how we approach leadership. When we view leadership solely as a position, we risk falling into authoritative patterns, focusing on control rather than influence. However, when we approach leadership as a way of being, we open ourselves to deeper engagement with our teams.
This shift in perspective affects everything from decision-making to team dynamics. Leaders who understand this difference tend to:
· Seek input before making decisions
· Share credit for successes
· Take responsibility for setbacks
· Create space for others to contribute and grow
· Reflect on their impact and adjust their approach
Understanding our own patterns and triggers becomes essential. When we know what drives our responses, we can make conscious choices about how we show up in leadership moments.
Building trust through authenticity
Authority might command compliance, but only authenticity builds lasting trust. Genuine leadership emerges when we dare to be real with our teams - sharing appropriate vulnerabilities, admitting when we don't have all the answers, and maintaining consistency between our words and actions.
This authenticity creates a foundation for meaningful relationships. Teams led by authentic leaders typically demonstrate:
· Higher engagement levels
· More open communication
· Greater innovation
· Increased resilience during challenges
· Stronger commitment to shared goals
The key lies in understanding that trust isn't automatically granted with a title - it must be earned through consistent, authentic behaviour.
Moving beyond traditional hierarchies
Traditional hierarchical structures often limit leadership potential by confining it to formal positions. However, organisations thrive when they recognise and encourage leadership at all levels. This might involve:
· Creating opportunities for employees to lead projects regardless of their position
· Valuing and implementing ideas from throughout the organisation
· Supporting emerging leaders through mentorship and development opportunities
· Establishing psychological safety so people feel confident stepping into leadership moments
When organisations move beyond rigid hierarchies, they unlock the full potential of their people and create more resilient, adaptable teams.
Being rather than Doing
As human beings, not human doings, our leadership impact stems from who we are rather than what we do. While tasks, metrics, and outcomes matter, authentic leadership emerges from our way of being - how we show up, engage with others, and influence our environment.
A recent thinking partner experience illustrates this principle perfectly. I worked with a senior leader who struggled with authentic leadership, constantly feeling pressure to maintain a façade of certainty and authority. Society had conditioned him, like many of us, to focus on achievements and output rather than authentic presence. He measured his worth through targets met and projects completed, leaving little room for genuine connection or vulnerability with his team.
Through our work together, we focused on developing his ability to trust his inner wisdom and lead from a place of authenticity. This meant challenging ingrained habits of putting on a 'leadership mask' and instead exploring what it meant to be genuinely present with his team. As he learned to set intentions around being rather than doing, remarkable shifts occurred. He began making different choices - choosing vulnerability over certainty, genuine dialogue over directive leadership, and authentic presence over performative authority.
The impact was so significant that he has since brought me in to work with his entire leadership team, recognising that authentic leadership creates ripples throughout an organisation. His journey demonstrates how shifting focus from doing leadership tasks to being a leader can transform not only individual leadership style but entire team dynamics.
This understanding shifts our focus from merely executing leadership tasks to embodying leadership qualities. It reminds us that our most significant impact often comes from the small, consistent actions that demonstrate our values and intentions.
This understanding shifts our focus from merely executing leadership tasks to embodying leadership qualities. It reminds us that our most significant impact often comes from the small, consistent actions that demonstrate our values and intentions.
True leadership isn't about the position we hold but about the impact we create through our presence, intentions, and interactions. By focusing on being authentic leaders rather than simply doing leadership tasks, we create lasting positive change in our organisations and communities.
What aspects of your leadership approach might shift if you focused more on being rather than doing?
How might this change impact those around you?
True leadership begins when we remove our masks and invite others to do the same. This poem by Charles C. Finn, one of my favourites, beautifully captures the universal human experience of hiding behind facades - something particularly relevant to those in leadership positions. It reminds us that authentic leadership starts with the courage to be seen, to be vulnerable, and to create spaces where others can do the same.
WHO AM I?
Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the mask I wear. For I
wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks – masks that I’m afraid to take
off – and none of them is me. Pretending is an art that is second
nature with me, but don’t be fooled.
I give the impression that I’m secure, that all is sunny and fine with
me, within, as well as without, that confidence is my middle name and
coolness is my game, that the waters are calm, that I’m in control and
need no-one.
But don’t believe it. Please don’t.
My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask – my ever-varying and ever-concealing mask. Beneath lies no smugness, no coolness, no complacence.
Beneath dwells the real me – in confusion, in fear, in loneliness.
But I hide this; I don’t want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness being exposed.
That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind, a nonchalant sophisticated façade
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.
But such a glance is precisely my salvation – my only salvation.
And I know it.
It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
from my own self-built prison walls, from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
But I don’t tell you this. I don’t dare. I’m afraid to.
I’m afraid your glance will not be followed by love and acceptance.
I’m afraid that you’ll think less of me, that you’ll laugh, and that your
laugh will kill me.
I’m afraid that deep down inside I’m nothing,
I’m just no good, and that you’ll see this and reject me.
So I play my games – my desperate pretending games – with the façade of assurance on the outside and a trembling child within.
And so begins the parade of masks, the glittering but empty parade of masks.
And my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter with you in the suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that’s really nothing – nothing of what’s crying within me.
So when I’m going through my routine, don’t be fooled by what I’m saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I’m not saying…
what I would like to be able to say…what, for survival, I need
to say, but I can’t say.
I dislike the hiding.
Honestly I do. I dislike the superficial phoney games I’m playing.
I’d really like to be genuine, spontaneous, and me; but you have to help me. You have to
help me by holding out your hand, even when it’s the last thing I seem
to want or need.
Each time you are kind and gentle and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings –
very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings.
With your sensitivity and sympathy, and the power of understanding, I
can make it. You can breathe life into me.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
But love is stronger than strong walls and therein lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls with firm hands, but with gentle hands, for a
child is very sensitive, and I am a child.
Who am I you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man, every woman, every child…everyone you meet.
This is a powerful reminder that we are all human - leaders, team members, every person we meet - brings us back to the essence of authentic leadership. It's not about the position we hold or the mask we wear, but about our willingness to be genuinely present, to connect, and to lead from a place of true authenticity.
Amanda Livermore is the founder of LORE Consultancy Ltd. She is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), a trained mentor coach and a coach supervisor.