Authentic leadership

“Authentic leadership”…

Personally, I would like to find another word for every other kind of leadership, because leadership, in my view, needs to start from presence, connection and empathy. But how are we authentic? And how are we authentic “on stage”? It comes stumblingly close to the old rhetoric tip “just be yourself”… just be authentic…

1. We need to turn our gaze inwards. Towards our values, and towards our beliefs about both leadership and how a good speaker, in our eyes, behaves on stage.

2. We then need to examine our true rhetorical purpose in each speaking situation, our message, and our honest relationship to that message.

Then we need to do one more thing. A very important thing. Something that was the first thing you did when you were born. And that will be the last thing you do when you…

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

I have just begun a Breathwork facilitator training with Hale Center in Stockholm. Before that I have practised breathing exercises ranging from a few minutes of the Wim Hof technique to several hours of Holotropic Breathwork through Grof Transpersonal Training.

And I know the power of the breath in helping us regain contact with ourselves and become present in what we do.

The breath is therefore one of the first things I help people find when they stand on stage. It helps you find your pace, be present in your opening and reduce nervousness.

And it is with the breath you must begin if you are simply to “be yourself” on stage… or be an authentic leader by the coffee machine, for that matter…

Breathe in…

Breathe out…