Behind the Leadership Façade
A façade is a powerful mechanism to ensure an unknown remains so; there are great times and places for façades such as theatre or the restoration of an aging shopfront. Serving a corporate leadership role is most certainly not the place for façades. No cover ups, no false fronts – what the corporate world now demands is clear, transparent face and action.
What can happen if I was being authentically ‘me’ in the workplace, the real me, with a description including ‘a curious being, one full of awe’ (which in fact is a great description for this blog’s author).
- Productivity prospers and team cohesion exists. It is also possible that more will wish to jump onto the ‘the real me’ bus, reaching a tipping point when those who are real outnumber those who are not – power to those ‘on the bus’ shall reign supreme.
- Less energy goes into deceit such as the protection of titles and ‘domains’.
- Any questions I ask should not derail a leader, as it will be clear that I’m ‘just me, being me’. Less tension and misunderstandings occur with more appreciation too.
Yet when the leader is disconnected and chooses not to understand the people’s reality, nor expose his, questions will be deflected, transferring his own fear of exposure back to the one who asked, and interpreting the question to be from a place of ‘let’s catch him out’ angle, increasing the chasm of separation.
With corporate unity and responsibility having the opportunity to influence society, what’s the state of your corporate leadership façade currently? Time for change?
