{"id":31926,"date":"2023-03-17T13:20:08","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T20:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31926"},"modified":"2023-03-17T18:28:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-18T01:28:27","slug":"differentiating-authenticity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/differentiating-authenticity\/","title":{"rendered":"Differentiating Authenticity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leadership<\/em>, written by Peter Guy Northouse, is a comprehensive guide to leadership theories, research, and practices.[1]<\/a> This book is much more than Northouse\u2019s opinion about leadership, it is an all-encompassing manual for leadership at its core. Northouse provides a detailed chronology of leadership and provides readers with an understanding of both traditional and contemporary approaches that can be beneficial for any leadership context. It covers various types of leaders, including transactional, transformational, charismatic, and servant-leadership, while also offering insights into ethical decision-making in today’s complex world.<\/p>\n

Northouse emphasizes real-world applications and current trends within the field of leadership, such as trait approaches and positive psychology perspectives on effective leader behaviors.[2]<\/a> The theories apply to any leader and provide practical evidence to confirm them. The text is instructional and includes reflection questionnaires for self-evaluation, and used in thousands of universities around the globe.[3]<\/a> The relevance is the positive perspective on leadership from every angle and continued refinement with each new edition. For Christian leaders, the skills are not only beneficial, but many of the qualities are also a requirement for spiritual authenticity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Authentic Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Leadership<\/em>, Theory and Practice, Northouse talks about how authentic leadership is a key part of effective leadership but also that it is \u201cstill in the formative phase of development,\u201d and \u201clikely to change as new research is published.\u201d[4]<\/a> He describes real authentic leaders as self-aware and committed to doing the right thing so that they can earn the trust of their followers. His approach is based on the idea that leaders can only be truly successful if they know themselves well enough to make good decisions based on honesty and not just on rewards or punishments from the outside.[5]<\/a> Northouse gives his readers useful information about how they can develop their style and keep ethics in mind.<\/p>\n

While reading the section on authentic leadership, I could not help but reflect on my own leadership style, and more importantly, my own spiritual leadership. I wondered if there was even a difference or if they naturally went hand in hand? If there is a difference, I concluded that there would also be a contradiction in spiritual authenticity for myself and Christian leaders in general. I believe authentic leadership goes beyond an ethical mindset for spiritual leadership. It is more than gaining the trust of those you lead and greater than a strategy for avoiding punishment. Authentic Christian leaders must live and die by their authenticity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Differentiating Authenticity<\/strong><\/p>\n

A businessman (or woman) in a corporate setting can be an authentic leader by definition and not carry the same responsibility as a Christian leader. Having worked in corporate pharma sales for many years, I speak from experience that the \u201cright thing\u201d is subjective. What if the product or service that a company provides is not unethical, but abominable by God\u2019s standards? An example would be the porn industry which is legal, a multibillion-dollar industry, and has a corporate structure. Could an executive in a porn conglomerate be an authentic leader? Sure.<\/p>\n

Many qualities of an authentic leader overlap with Christian leaders but morals (spiritual obedience) and ethics are different. By definition (dictionary.com, britanica.com, and deffin.com), ethics are standards distinguished by social settings whereas morality is personal and relate to \u201cright and wrong.\u201d[6]<\/a> Christian leaders cannot differentiate the two. So, in theory, the industry applies less to the definition of authentic leadership, and the same definition and rules do not apply to Christian leaders. In industries such as porn, tobacco, processed foods, or secular movies, executives could gain the trust of their employees, conduct ethical business practices accepted by society, and be labeled \u201cauthentic\u201d and \u201csuccessful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authentic Christian Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n

I believe there is a skewed definition of success<\/em> and authenticity<\/em> regard to Christian leadership and modern application. An authentic Christian leader is connected to the Spirit of God and all decisions are made through Him. They are not evaluated on quotas, their leadership style requires hard stances on morality, and their intolerance to worldly influence must be extreme.<\/p>\n

An unauthentic<\/em> Christian leader resembles the authentic<\/em> corporate scenario above in many ways. They may follow protocol and assume authenticity, however, the product in the corporate example – and a personal struggle a Christian leader may have – separate these leaders from true authenticity. Authentic Christian leadership requires a deep relationship with Christ that carries over into leadership and lifestyle. It is impossible for an authentic Christian leader to take off his\/her \u201cChristian hat\u201d at the end of the day or behave in a way that dishonors his\/her Christian standards. To be truly genuine in who you are and what you do requires a connection with the Spirit. It requires movement that fulfills an unselfish purpose and frequent repentance through Christ so that purity and authenticity can shine brightly.<\/p>\n

Authenticity in Christianity assumes multiple forms of leadership. It is a more serious form of leadership with eternal consequences and standards. Northouse discusses Transformational Leadership and Servant Leadership which are two mandatory qualities of a Christian leader. Again, in a spiritual context, a leader must center Christ in their transformation and serving for unselfish gain. Transformation and servant leadership is more than inspiring others and offering practical guidance which Northouse notes. It is the death of the old you and dedicated discipleship of others. It requires full devotion and carries a certain life-or-death philosophy that is often not popular to discuss. An authentic Christian leader can be compared to a lifeguard in a pool of drowning individuals. In many cases, they can save themselves by changing their perspective and using faith to see the hypothetical ladder within arm’s distance away. Some can just climb out and others need Christian leaders to point them in the right direction. Others need us to jump in and save them, while others require coaching to stay away from danger and assist in the saving.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, I am proud and excited to be a Christian leader, however, I feel an enormous weight and pressure that I know is not of God. I pray for authentic confidence and strong faith for myself and all of you.<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Northouse, Peter, Leadership<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, 19<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> YouTube, \u201cPeter Northouse discusses Leadership: Theory and Practice, 5th<\/sup> edition.\u201d<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Northouse, Peter, Leadership, 197<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid, 198<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> dictionary.com, britanica.com, deffin.com, \u201cmorals and ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leadership, written by Peter Guy Northouse, is a comprehensive guide to leadership theories, research, and practices.[1] This book is much more than Northouse\u2019s opinion about leadership, it is an all-encompassing manual for leadership at its core. Northouse provides a detailed chronology of leadership and provides readers with an understanding of both traditional and contemporary approaches […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2309],"tags":[2709],"class_list":["post-31926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership","tag-northouse-dlgp01","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31926"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31930,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31926\/revisions\/31930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}