By Chris Wahl

This is the first in a series of articles on ALIFE - areas of strength for leaders. ALIFE stands for Authenticity, Leadership, Intentionality, Fear/Courage, and Execution.

Authenticity - What does it mean to be an authentic leader?

Authenticity is one of those terms that most people "get" ~ but don't really "get." In our view, it is essential to being a great leader. How can you tell an authentic leader when you are with one? Most of us can feel it when someone is authentic, and so we can say that it has something to do with one's presence. And more. An authentic leader creates trust. An authentic leader is generative. An authentic leader draws from deep internal source material, understands that people aren't perfect, and works with them anyway. An authentic leader tells his/her "truth" in such a way as to invite dialogue that contains the "truths" of others.

At a deeper level, being authentic means that we express our fundamental sense of purpose and that we are aware of working to be the person we aspire to be, the person we must be if we are truly to feel that our deeper sense of purpose is being fulfilled.

Do you find yourself doing work that you don't have much energy for?

Most people in organizations learn to "play the game" at some level, and may push their own needs to the background. Humans can support a certain amount of this, but over time, too much of it leads to being out of synch with ourselves, and our authentic self becomes buried. When we hit a crisis of burnout, illness, or some other sort of suffering, it is our authentic self who may be demanding our attention. The coach's job is to help the client see opportunities to more fully express themselves, so their authenticity begins to come to the fore.

If you are striving to be more authentic more often, your job is to stay in touch with the vision of the person you aspire to be, and to challenge yourself more and more often to be that person by noticing on a daily basis what exactly life is calling for from you. Can you do that?

Questions for Reflection

In your journal or personal data book, record your observations based on the following questions.

When do you feel most alive? (this is a clue to your authentic nature)

When are you most naturally you? (no posturing, game playing, hiding)

Self-Observation Exercise

This week, notice those times when you feel in synch with yourself. What contributes to that feeling? Where does the feeling show up for you physically?

This week, notice those times when you feel out of synch with yourself. What contributes to this feeling? Where does that feeling show up for you physically?

What patterns do you notice from these observations you have made?

What new action will you take based on what you are learning about your authentic self?

Practice

This month, at least once a day, notice how alive you feel. If you are feeling very alive, what brings this about for you? If you are not feeling very alive, ask yourself what you would need to become more engaged. Then, treat yourself to that.

Leadership

This is the second in a series of articles on ALIFE - areas of strength for leaders. AL:IFE stands for Authenticity, Leadership, Intentionality, Fear/Courage, and Execution

In your mind, are you a leader because you have a title that says so, or because you embody what it means to be a leader? "Embodying" leadership means that you act in a leader-like way, and others can see it. "Embodying" means that your actions are in synch with your words, and that your mood is in synch with your stated intentions.

Let's look at leadership as a series of public acts. In other words, leadership happens when you are in action, and you have chances, both big and small, on a daily basis to embody leadership through your actions. Another distinction important to consider is that leadership moves more towards the future than management, which stays more in the present. The question for you becomes, how am I ~as a leader~ showing up on a daily basis? Am I "out there" acting as a leader? Am I focusing my organization on the future, on what's possible? How much am I in a strategic vs. a tactical mode of thinking?

Now, let's view leadership as a mindset. Actions that you take as a leader will be fueled by the context you are in and the story you tell yourself about that context. If you live in a story of possibility, your actions will reflect that. If you live in a story of resignation, your actions will reflect that. In each case, the possible outcomes can have a dramatic impact on your organization. Your actions are informed and supported by the amount of self-reflection you do, your knowledge of self, as well as how well you take your lessons from feedback that you receive.

Powerful leaders today are those who can read a situation and know how to act within it. They do not assume that their "style" is applicable to every challenging situation. There are times to be autocratic, authoritarian, supportive, inspirational, and logical. Any one of these all of the time means you have only one tool in your toolkit, which is a limiting factor in achieving your greatness as a leader.

Questions for Reflection

What story of leadership are you in? How do you think of yourself as a leader? How do you embody leadership?

What kind of leader do you aspire to be?

What new actions can you put into motion as a leader who is focused on your organization's future?

What are the developmental areas for you as a leader? How can you move to action on those?

Practice

For the next two weeks, engage in self-observation. Notice the following:

• How often do you get the opportunity to "show up" as a leader?
• What percentage of your time is spent in tactical, vs. strategic, issues?
• When you are showing up as a leader, what actions are you engaged in?
• How much time are you spending on conversations about the past, present, or future?
• What new actions will you take based on what you have observed?

Intentionality

This is the third in a series of articles on ALIFE - areas of strength for leaders. ALIFE stands for Authenticity, Leadership, Intentionality, Fear/Courage, and Execution.

Leadership without intentionality will lead you somewhere you may not want to be. Notwithstanding the occasional magic of serendipity, we believe intentionality is key to great leadership and is based on integrity and authenticity, and integral to achieving a vision. Intentional means purposeful, focused clearly on an outcome. Most of us have worked for leaders who lacked intentionality - and the result was chaos.

One client I worked with needed to discover the power of intention. He did not have a big goal; instead, he blew with the wind. Whatever the organization needed, he would try to mold himself into that. In the process, he lost a sense of energy and gained a sense of resignation. His authentic self was buried somewhere under the external expectations he was trying to meet. He clearly needed a sense of intention. When his team was faltering, he declared the intention of pulling them together and inspiring them to do better. He became willing to step up to the plate and envision a new kind of success. Intention in action.

Think of intention as the point around which you can rally your energy and ignite the energy of those in your organization. You can have intentions around just about anything, such as:

• your personal development as a leader
• your commitment to develop others
• your commitment to wholeness, for yourself and others
• your commitment to clear communication
• your desire to bring the organization to a new way of thinking
• your desire to create an image of your organization that is admired and valued by others
• your desire to create an organization that is respectful, innovative, and welcoming for everyone who works there

The list can be endless. Choose those areas to focus on that will create energy and leverage for you and your organization. Create your crystal-clear intention, make a commitment to it, and live it! Then stand back and notice what happens. You will be quicker to make decisions (intention is your compass pointing north), you will generate your own and others' creativity, and you will stretch yourself beyond what you thought was possible.

Questions for Reflection

Think of a time when you created a clear intention. What did you think was possible? What did you feel inside? What happened?

What have you noticed about intentionality in leaders you admire?

In what ways have you created intention for yourself as a leader in your present assignment?

Practice

Think of all the possible ways to improve your organization. Brainstorm a list. Choose one activity that will give you leverage and improve things around you. Create an intention for yourself as leader that will make a difference to you and/or to others.

Once you have created your intention, brainstorm ways to convey the intention to those around you. How will you "make it happen"? What will you commit to? How will you socialize your intention?

Fear/Courage

This is the fourth in a series of articles on ALIFE - areas of strength for leaders. ALIFE stands for Authenticity, Leadership, Intentionality, Fear/Courage, and Execution.

Fear - it is often difficult to admit we feel it, we try to pretend it's not there, and of course, it is. Humans (even leaders) are hardwired to be fearful. It rightfully protects us from threats that we feel. Yet, sometimes the threats are not real. The famous quote, "there is nothing to fear but fear itself" may ring truer than most of us imagine, partly because when we imagine the worst, it's easy for us to see how possible "the worst" could be, and we begin to believe the imagined scenario.

Fear keeps us small. Courage helps us live larger. It helps us past our fears. Imagine a great leader acting out of fear. What if, for example, Churchill had? Or Roosevelt? Makes you wonder where the free world would be today. Acting courageously is something every leader must do. Powerful people are able to transform their fear into courage. Leaders must find courage to lead, make the hard decisions, and move past their fears, all in service of preserving an organization's integrity and supporting its future.

Personal courage is also necessary for leaders. There are times when the demands of work life unabashedly trounce on boundaries of balance - little or no time for personal pursuits outside of work, for family, for reflection. In many systems, it takes courage to model balance and effectively nourish your ability to be present. "Systems" will take as much as you are willing to give them. Who sets the limits?

From a coaching perspective, fear takes many forms. Fear shows up when a person has to speak publicly, have a difficult conversation, defend an argument, or go against the norm. It matters not if it's a big thing or a little thing that causes fear; the point is to recognize ways past it whenever possible. The other side fear is empowering.

Questions for Reflection

Think of a time when you were feeling fear - especially at work. What did you do to get past it?

Think of a leader whom you admire. Think of moments when you saw this leader be courageous. What happened? What can you learn from that leader?

Think of a time when you were especially courageous. What enabled you to find and act on your courage?

Practice

In the next few weeks, get in touch with a fear that keeps you small and prevents you from taking productive action. Notice what you are telling yourself when it shows up. Ask yourself, what is one thing I can do to move past this fear? Do you need to talk it over? Write about it in your journal? Admit it to yourself? Take one step.

Execution

This is the last in a series of articles on ALIFE - areas of strength for leaders. ALIFE stands for Authenticity, Leadership, Intentionality, Fear/Courage, and Execution.

Execution is key to the cycle of action, and key to leading others. If you are a leader you undoubtedly have a mandate to create a future and make things happen. Leaders who are unable themselves to move into action and get others to move into action fail to deliver on their mandates. Recognizing what is and what needs to be is the first step. Filling the gap to get to what needs to be is where execution or action are necessary.

Execution, therefore, is necessary to leadership.

Leaders do not have the luxury to just sit and think big thoughts. Though thinking big thoughts is necessary (I encourage every leader to find time - and hold it sacred - to kick back and think big), thoughts and ideas do need to be translated into action. Declaring a big thought - a new future, for instance, is not enough. Though the declaration is the first step, it is not the only step. Leaders need to execute on their ideas and engage others in moving forward.

Questions for Reflection

Are you typically more oriented towards action or reflection? How do you know? How do you find a balance between the two?

What is your track record on action management? What has enabled you to move into action in the past?

What is one action you can take this week to move forward something on your leadership agenda?

Practice

This week, take one action that will move your leadership agenda forward.

This week, make a request of one person on your leadership team that will move that person into action.

This week, make one declaration about something in the organization's future, and work with your leadership team to outline actions to help you and the organization accomplish this future.

At the end of the week, make notes about your ability to execute on your ideas. What have you noticed? learned?