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Authentic Leadership and Life Stories
Student Name
Affiliation
Course
Due Date
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Executive Summary
Being an authentic leader requires one to be real and aware of who one is. One way of achieving
this is by reflecting on our past life experiences. This report focuses on my journey to my becoming an authentic leader by reflecting on my university and work experiences. The reports are
based on data from both primary and secondary research. The evaluation of my life story and a
questionnaire on authentic leadership assessment provides the primary data. Different models
and theories are used to show the role of self-awareness, values, and motivation in becoming an
authentic leader. In conclusion, the report confirms that should be aware of their values and motivations to determine who they are. Besides, self-awareness highlights the areas that one should
work on to facilitate self-enhancement with the ultimate goal of being an authentic leader. The
last section of the report outlines recommendations that will help me on my journey of authentic
leadership. These recommendations include being more mindful of my strengths and weaknesses, and embracing daily self-awareness practice.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 2
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Self-awareness ................................................................................................................................ 6
The Johari Window Technique ................................................................................................... 6
Self-Awareness And Life Story .................................................................................................. 8
Values ............................................................................................................................................. 9
Authentic Leadership Theory ...................................................................................................... 9
Analysis Of Values From My Life Story .................................................................................. 11
Motivation ..................................................................................................................................... 11
The Self Verification Theory .................................................................................................... 12
An Analysis Of Motivation From My Life Story ..................................................................... 13
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 14
Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 15
Appendix 1: Bibliography............................................................................................................. 17
Appendix 2: My Life Story ........................................................................................................... 19
Appendix 3: Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire ............................................ 21
Appendix 4: Learning Impact Letter............................................................................................. 23
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Introduction
Over the years, the competition levels in different sectors have intensified significantly.
Therefore, companies and individuals are looking to implement strategies that will give them an
upper hand over their rivals in their respective fields. Besides, scholars and industry experts have
shown interest in unveiling the most effective strategy in mitigating the impact of the rising
competition levels. Lee (2018, p. 23) noted that the organizational practices implemented in the
workplace play a significant role in its position in the market. Therefore, companies have
invested in organizational practices to boost their performance. One way of doing so is by
ensuring that the employees are under the right leadership. The effectiveness of the leadership is
determined by the leadership styles adopted by the individual assuming that position, as well as
their character and personality. Currently, scholars and academics are stressing the importance of
having authentic leaders in the position of power.
An article by Reuben (2018, p. 13) defines authentic leaders as individuals who do not
fake their leadership. This means that they do not pretend to be leaders without the capacity to
execute the responsibilities associated with their respective positions. Besides, authentic leaders
do not aim ag creating an impression that impersonates a leader so that they can be selected to
lead. Therefore, leadership is part of who they are and they do not have to fake it. authentic
leaders do not assume a leadership role to enjoy the benefits that are associated with the position.
These benefits include higher salaries, honor, prestige, and other rewards. Contrary to this, they
lead out of the convictions of their hearts. Gill and Gardener (2018, p. 312) supported this
argument by stating that authentic leaders are originals and not copies. This simply means that
they do not try to mimic other leaders to be like them. They can maintain their individuality
despite sharing values, personality traits, and missions with other leaders. Besides, their values
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are not influenced by external factors like political or social factors as they are influenced by
their experiences.
This report heavily borrows from the definitions and arguments made above. The primary
objective of the report is to explore how my life experiences have influenced who I am. Also, I
will examine my level of self-awareness while identifying the values and motivations that I have
developed over the years. The ultimate aim of the report is to enhance my self-awareness which
will help me in my journey to becoming an authentic leader. The scope of the report is limited to
my experiences, actions and decisions that I made as a university student. The said events are
recorded in Appendix 2. The scope entails a single period in my life which may create
limitations in the study. First, the scope does not give a conclusive reflection of my experiences
as a student and part time worker. Besides, I do not have a perfect recall of the quoted events and
the report is thus subject to huma error. Lastly, the limitation in the words does not allow me to
explore other life experiences which consequently hinders enhanced self-awareness.
In this report, I will use two methodologies to have a deeper understanding on myself.
First, I will analyse my life story based on relevant techniques and theories. This methodology
was supported by Steffen (2018, p. 201) who argued that life stories have a significant impact in
shaping one’s self-concept. Secondly, I will use results from an authentic leadership assessment
test. The test reflects on the level my level of authenticity which is an effective way of assessing
my self-awareness levels. The report will first explore three concepts: self-awareness, values and
motivation. The report ends with a conclusion and recommendations based in the discussion. The
appendix consists of the bibliography, life story, authentic leadership assessment test and the
impact letter.
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Self-awareness
As Ahn and Lee (2018, p. 457) note, self-awareness is the starting point of the journey
towards becoming an authentic leader. As Huang (2017, p. 34) puts it, self-awareness involves
"peeling off the onion." This symbolically means that one has to put off the façade they have to
reveal who they truly are. It involves analyzing one's experiences, actions, and values. Doing so
is the only to self-identity and self-concept. Also, Steffen (2018) notes that self-aware leaders
know their weaknesses and their strengths. They are also very true about their strengths and
weakness and they do not hide them from their followers.
The Johari Window Technique
There are various techniques that one can use to have a deeper understanding of
themselves when evaluating life experiences. One of these techniques is the Johari Window
which was first proposed by Harrington and Egham in 1955. As psychologists, they believed that
self-awareness was one of the most important leadership characteristics. According to Reuben
(2018, p. 17), the Johari Window is an instrumental tool in assessing how much we know about
ourselves. It is also used to reflect how unaware we can be of the way we present ourselves and
how other people perceive us. the two proponents created this mode based on the assumption that
our lives depend on our self-awareness. The argument in this model is that there are certain
things we know about ourselves and there are things that we do not know (Qu and Zhou, 2019,
p.1039). Besides, there are things that other people know about us and there are things that they
do not know. This is represented through a four-paned Johari window as demonstrated in the
figure below.
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Figure 1: The Johari window model
(Jinto and Tessy,2020, p. 26).
The first pane represents the Open self. According to Huang (2017, p. 18), this is the
information that both the individual and other people know. The second category is the blind
self. In this case, others have information about you that you do not know. Therefore, the
information is unknown to self but known to others. The Third pane represents the hidden self
how is known to self but hidden to others. Here, an individual has information on who they are
which other people do not know. The last pane in the window symbolically represents the
unknown self. This is the part of an individual which is unknown to self and others too. As Jinto
and Tessy (2020, p. 23). puts it, this is the information about you that neither you nor others
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know. To enhance self-awareness, one should work towards enlarging the size of the windows
on the left side of the panel. It entails prioritizing the open and the hidden Information. On the
other hand, less self-awareness is reflected by bigger windows on the right and on the bottom,
which consist of the blind and the unknown.
Self-Awareness and Life Story
I will use the Johari window model to analyze my experiences at the university where I
also had a chance to work part-time. In the Known panel, I can confidently say that my hard
work and determination are acknowledged by the people I have worked with. I am confident
that I am a hardworking person who can achieve whatever I set my mind to. My confidence in
my hard work is the primary reason why I decided to get a part-time job while continuing with
my studies based on the argument by Reuben (2018, p. 19). I knew that I was in a position to
balance both my school and my employment duties. After working for some time, my colleagues
and my employer saw my hard work and decided to keep me on the job. My parents were also
very supportive of my decision to work while still studying.
My time management skills are yet another piece of information that is known to both
myself and others. Initially, I have a tough time balancing my school work and my part-time job.
Upon realizing this, one of my lecturers gave me tips on how to manage my time better. My
coursemates also helped by ensuring that I submitted my assignments on time and attended all
my classes. Another piece of information that is open is my passion for leadership, which I have
shown over the years.
Under the hidden category, there are a lot of things I know about myself that other people
do not know. For instance, others do not know why I decided to work part-time at the university
instead of having fun like all my coursemates which suits the situation defined by Jinto and
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Tessy (2020, p. 23). This was a result of the fear of the unknown in the future. I thought that
working part-time would give me an upper hand in the future labor market. Besides, other people
do not know that I am quite observant and I take note of all the small details. In my working
experience, I was disappointed to realize that other people assume that I am arrogant, as a result
of the bad decisions I made. In the future, I plan to reflect on my decisions more often to have a
better understanding of who I am.
Values
According to research, values, morals, and beliefs are interrelated. This is based on the
fact that our values stem from our beliefs. Law (2019, p. 98) defines beliefs as things that we
perceive to be Important or how people ought to behave. On the other hand, morals help us
determine what is right and what is wrong, based on our beliefs. An authentic leaders should be
conscious of the values that they have. As April (2017, p. 45) notes, values have a direct impact
on the leadership principles that one implements as a leader. This calls for a high level of selfawareness to identify one's values. As Corte (2017, p. 189) notes, authentic leaders have a high
level of self-resolution. Self-resolution is also referred to as self-concept clarity. It refers to the
extent to which one’s beliefs are clear to the person. It shows that the leader has strongly held
values that are reflected in his decisions and his actions. Besides, Hester (2019, p. 19) names
self-awareness as one of the most important values that an authentic leader should have. One
cannot be true to who they are if they are not aware of their values.
Authentic Leadership Theory
The authentic leadership theory reflects the importance of values to leaders. According
to this theory, leaders are allowed to adopt or develop their leadership style as long as they are
consistent with their character and their values. The primary argument in this theory is that the
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development of an authentic leader is influenced by three factors. These are; positive
psychological capabilities, moral reasoning, and critical life events (Corte, 2017, p. 198). In
moral reasoning, Huang (2018, p. 58) states that authentic leaders depend on their values to deal
with moral and ethical dilemmas. Authentic leaders have values to life stories that helped them to
be gain self-awareness and discover the direction of their moral reasoning. According to Law
(2019, p. 97), values have significant power in leadership. The values that one has as a leader
plays a role in shaping the culture and climate in the workplace. The leader’s value underpins
and guides their decision-making and their behaviors. For instance, it influences how they solve
a conflict in the workplace. It also shapes the relationship between leaders and their subordinates
in the workplace.
A study by Hester (2019, p. 17) identifies the key values that an authentic leader value.
First, leaders should have authenticity which is demonstrated by their ability to be consistent and
transparent with their values. A secondly, leaders should demonstrate self-respect whilst
respecting others regardless of their differences. Being respectful goes hand in hand with
showing empathy and compassion to earn the responsibility of others. Sun and Shang (2019, p.
189) argue that leaders need to show commitment to go beyond their self-interest and serve other
people. This can be challenging since leaders are in a position to exploit their power and do what
they want. Integrity is yet another important value. Here, leaders should tell the truth to their
subordinates at all times. It also involves telling the truth about who one is by being authentic.
According to Reuben (2018, p. 13), leaders should be accountable for their actions. This is the
only way they can motivate others to be accountable for their actions too. These are some of the
values that an authentic leader should have.
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Analysis of Values from My Life Story
When started working part-time, I was working at the employee level. I have a very
different perception of what it takes to be a leader, although I knew I wanted to be one. Later on,
I assumed a leadership position where I had more than 10 subordinates. This was one of the
learning experiences that has greatly shaped my leadership skills. I quickly learned that being a
leader took more than I expected. Being relatively young, I hand subordinates who were older
than me. Therefore, I have to learn to be respectful while still demonstrating the assertiveness
that a leader should have. This supports the argument by Huang (2018, p. 56) that our
experiences shape our values.
I also got a chance to build a healthy relationship with my subordinates. Apart from
working together, we use to play games and joke with each other. According Hester (2019, p. 17)
it is easier for the employees to open up and talk to a leader who freely interacts with them. In
one instance, I made an independent decision to optimize the production of the company by
introducing a unified radius. Initially, I thought that this would enhance the efficiency levels in
the warehouses. Contrary to this, the changes caused a lot of challenges which resulted in
damages and loss. I learned about the consequence of being ignorant and the importance of
consulting other people before making a decision that will affect them. Lastly, I learned to
always be accountable for the decisions we make as it reflects so the type of person where are.
These are some of the values that I continue to hold to date.
Motivation
According to Sun and Shang (2019, p. 187), a person’s motivation to take action Is a
result of their values. Also, the level of self-awareness has a role to play in what one decides to.
Authentic leaders should have self-concordant goals. It shows that their goals are motivated by
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their central values and beliefs. On the other hand, non-concordant goals are pursued based on
self-interest and in disregard for one’s duties of conventions. For one to be an authentic leader,
they should be motivated by the internal commitment that they have towards themselves and
others too (Qu and Zhou, 2019, p.1032). Besides, the behavior of authentic leaders is selfexpressive. This means that the behavior is motivated by their self-concept which includes values
and self-identity. A review of past experiences reveals the self-concept and values that have
motivated us to behave in a certain way in the past.
The Self Verification Theory
The self-verification theory is commonly used to identify factors that may motivate
people to behave in a certain way. The self-verification theory argues that people want to be
known and understood by others according to their self-views. The self-views include their
beliefs, feelings, and self-concept. For instance, an extroverted person wants others to see them
as extraverted. The theory was based on the principles of symbolic interactionism. According to
Moore (2017, p. 1509). symbolic interactionists argue that people for self-views to determine
how other people will act towards them. In return, this motivates them to act in a certain way.
Therefore, people’s self-views play a critical role in shaping their lives. Therefore, they are
invested in maintaining their self-views by obtaining self-verifying information.
People with positive self-views have the desire to receive self-enhancing and positive
feedback from themselves and others. On the other hand, those with negative self-views work
towards pushing them in the opposite directions. Usually, this motivates people to take the
necessary actions and be a better version of themselves (Schmalz, 2018, p.87). Therefore, they
seek evidence and explore the perspective of others to facilitate self-enhancement. people with
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negative self-views experience internal conflicts that they can only solve by changing their
behaviors.
An Analysis of Motivation from My Life Story
In my primary research, realized that my motivation for a product self-view. To have a
better understanding of this, I used an authentic leadership self-assessment Questionnaire which
is attached in the appendix. According to the result of the questionnaire, my self-awareness
levels are high as shown in appendix 3. According to (Schmalz, 2018, p.86), it shows that I am
aware of who I am on the inside. This is based on the fact that I do not a false front in front of
others. Besides, have accepted the feelings I have towards myself.
A reflection on my past experiences also shows how my self-view had been a motivating
factor that I have influenced my decision-making in the past. The first decision I made when I
joined the university is to work part-time while others were having fun. According to the
argument by Moore (2017, p. 1508), this decision was motivated by my self-view as a mature
person who challenges themselves to take a different path. Besides, I wanted other people to see
me as mature and different from other people my age. When I became a leader, I made sure that
is respected everyone and also interacted with them freely. In this case, I wanted my
subordinates to see that I am a respectful person who was raised to respect others regardless of
their position.
The highlight of my experience as a leader was when I decided to optimize the product in
the company by introducing a unified radius for all products. According to the argument
proposed by (Schmalz, 2018, p.88), this decision was motivated by my self-view as a leader with
strong workability. Besides, I assumed that I was admired by other employees and I wanted them
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to continue doing so. The decision to optimize the products was also inspired by my desire to
show that I cared about the challenges in warehouse management.
When the product optimization leads to more problems, I had a very negative self-view. I
perceived myself as a failure and at some time I thought that I was not a good leader. To reserve
this, I asked for feedback from other employees to facilitate my self-enhancement. It was then
that I realize that I made the mistake because of my arrogance and pride. Since then, I have been
working towards ensuring that I listen to the views of my subordinates before making any
decisions. Besides, I am more willing to learn and research on an issue instead of being
overconfident.
Conclusion
The above report focused on my journey to becoming an authentic leader. According to
the discussion, an authentic leader is true to who they are and does not try to be fake. Also, an
authentic leader is very cautious of who they are at an individual level. being an authentic leader
is important as it shapes the leadership principles that the leader adopts. Besides, these principles
have a direct impact on the culture and climate in the workplace. One way of enhancing
authenticity is by reflecting on our past experiences. This is based on the fact that our
experiences play a significant role in shaping who we are.
The first element discussed in the report is self-awareness. Self-awareness involves
having a clear self-identity and self-concept. In the report, I used the Johari window technique to
evaluate the level of self-awareness. The symbolic window is made up of four panes that
represent different categories of self-awareness. These pages are the open self, blind self, hidden
self, and the unknown self. Based on the application of this model when evaluating my
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experiences at the university, concluded that my known self and hidden self are bigger than my
blind self and the unknown self. It shows that I know more about myself than other people.
Self-awareness also involves acknowledging the values that one holds. According to the
discussion, values are influenced by both our beliefs and morals. They refer to things that we
take to be important. The Authentic leadership theory is used in this section to show the role of
values in shaping an individual. In this theory, moral reasoning is one of the principles of
authentic leadership. Here, the leader relies on their values to deal with conflicts and ethical
dilemmas. An analysis of my experience shows that I have values like respect, empathy, and
assertiveness.
Lastly, the report explores how actions and behaviors are motivated by who we are. Here,
the self-verification theory is used to explain how people use their self-view to predict how
others will see them. Therefore, people make their decisions based on how they want other
people to see them. This argument was asserted after an evaluation of my past experiences. It
was quite obvious that most of the decisions I made as a student and as a leader were based on
my self-view and how I want other people to perceive me.
Recommendations
Based on the above report, I need to take steps to increase my level of self-awareness as
it will increase my chances of becoming an authentic leader. The first step to take is to be more
mindful of my strengths and my weaknesses. This will help boost the information I have about
myself to avoid acting in ignorance. Besides, being aware of my strengths and weakness will
reveal the areas that I can maximize and those that I need to work on. Conducting monthly selfevaluation exercises is one of the most effective ways of keeping up with the two qualities. Apart
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from self-evaluation, being mindful also entails reaching out for assistance from other people. In
some cases, other people are may observe things that are oblivious to use. Therefore, it is
important to seek their feedback on the subject and weaknesses. They can also be of great help in
determining ways of maximizing the strengths and improving on the identified weaknesses.
The second recommendation is to embrace a daily self-awareness habit. The habit will
ensure that one constantly keeps up with what is happening around them and how it affects them.
In most cases, the daily habits are simple and relatively take a short amount of time to complete.
It includes answering simple questions on various aspects of your daily life. This strategy is
important as it cultivates reflection on life experiences. Besides, it making smaller steps has been
proven to be more effective than making big improvements. Small incremental improvements
and insights on personal experiences are the best way to reflect on values and motivations. In
this strategy, however, one should refrain from overthinking and stressing the deeper meaning of
the experiences. Instead, the daily reflections should be simple, informative, and conclusive. The
information from the evaluation should lead to the necessary actions. Analyzing the daily
reflections will reflect problematic patterns which lead to a negative self-view. This will help
focus on the next action to take towards becoming a better leader.
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Appendix 1: Bibliography
Ahn, J. and Lee, S. (2018). Leaders’ Core Self-evaluation, Ethical Leadership, and Employees’
Job Performance: The Moderating Role of Employees’ Exchange Ideology. Journal of
business ethics, 148, p. 457-470
April, K. (2017). Authentic Leadership – Personal Values: Impediments and Enhancers. Effective
executive, 20(2), p. 31-65
Corte, V. (2017). The Role and Implications of Values-based Leadership. Journal of
organizational and social change, 14(3), 187-213
Gill, C. and Gardener, W. (2018). Using theory on authentic leadership to build a strong human
resource management system. Human resource management review, 28(3), p. 304-318
Hester, J. (2019). Values-Based Leadership in a Time of Values Confusion. Journal of valuebased leadership, 12(1), p. 12- 23
Huang, X. (2017). When self-view is at stake Responses to ostracism through the lens of selfverification theory. Journal of management, p. 1-24
Jinto, M. and Tessy, S. (2020). Johari window model a self-disclosure process to promote
teamwork. TNNMC journal of mental health nursing, 8(1), pp. 25-29
Law, K. (2019). Promoting Self-Awareness: An Undergraduate In-Class Activity and Its Value.
Journal of teaching in social work, 39(1), pp. 92-104
Lee, C. (2018). Authentic Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness: The Roles of Hope, Grit,
and Growth Mindset. International journal of pure and applied mathematics, 118 (9), p.
383-401
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Moore, C. (2017). The advantage of being oneself: The role of applicant self-verification in
organizational hiring decisions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(11), p. 1493–1513
Qu, E. and Zhou, M. (2019). Should Authentic Leaders Value Power? A Study of Leaders’
Values and Perceived Value Congruence. Journal of business ethics, 156, 1027-1044
Ruben, A. (2018). Self-awareness and leadership: Developing an individual strategic
professional development plan in an MBA leadership course. The international journal of
management education, 16(1), p. 1-13
Schmalz, M. (2018). It's Not You, It's Me: Identity, Self-Verification, and Amazon Reviews.
ACM SIGMIS Database: the database for advances in information systems, 49(2), p. 7992
Steffen, K. (2018). Knowing me, knowing use: personal and collective self-awareness enhances
authentic leadership and leader endorsement. Self-awareness and authentic leadership, p.
1-56
Sun, P. and Shang, S. (2019). Personality traits and personal values of servant leaders.
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 40. p. 177-192
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Appendix 2: My Life Story
When I first entered university, I was full of expectations for university life like everyone else.
The university has relatively few courses and can have a lot of free time. Therefore, some
students choose to go shopping, to bars, and other places for entertainment, but I choose to find a
part-time job to enrich myself and earn some pocket money.
When I first started part-time, I was just an employee. Because I started from the grassroots, I
always felt that after becoming a leader, I would not become that typical leader. However, when
I became the person in charge of more than a dozen subordinates, I realized that reality is not as
simple as I thought.
There are more than 10 subordinates, including men and women. They work part-time with me
at the same time. Some are older than me. When we are not working or busy at work, we also
play games together and joke with each other.
Because of my strong working ability, I can always complete tasks quickly, and I can quickly
come up with solutions to some difficult problems. It is inevitable that I am admired and admired
by some employees and feel that I am particularly powerful.
Last year I optimized the same product of the company and optimized the original products with
different radii into a unified radius, thinking that this can greatly reduce the pressure on
warehouse management. When I asked you what you think and suggest, of course, It was a
sound of praise. I am used to it, and even take it for granted.
However, in the subsequent use process, it was discovered that the mixed-use of new and old
products caused greater inconvenience. At the same time, there were many stocks of old products
but they were no longer available, resulting in a large amount of damage reported.
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So, I held a meeting and asked about the shortcomings of this offer, who can tell? Then an
employee whispered that the loss was large and the new and old inventory was chaotic. I asked
why I didn't bring it up at the time, but I didn't answer below. I suddenly felt a voice in my head
telling me: You are too arrogant. Later, I made some improvements under the suggestions I
collected, and the effect was remarkable.
Since then, I always remind myself to converge and listen more to the opinions of others. More
product design, market research, industry progress, etc. are all handed over to subordinates to
complete. I am more responsible for quality control.
I have heard such a sentence: Standing on a tower and watching the hundreds of thousands of
people below, everyone will be hot-headed. I didn't believe it before, but now I believe it.
.
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Appendix 3: Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire
Instructions: This questionnaire contains items about different dimensions of authentic
leadership. There are no right or wrong responses, so please answer honestly. Use the
following scale when responding to each statement by writing the number from the scale
below that you feel most accurately characterizes your response to the statement.
Key: 1 = Strongly 2 = Disagree 3 = Neutral 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly
disagree
agree
1. I can list my three greatest weaknesses. 1 2 3 4 5 2. My actions reflect my core values. 1
2 3 4 5 3. I seek others’ opinions before making up my own mind. 1 2 3 4 5 4. I
openly share my feelings with others. 1 2 3 4 5 5. I can list my three greatest
strengths. 1 2 3 4 5 6. I do not allow group pressure to control me. 1 2 3 4 5 7. I
listen closely to the ideas of those who disagree 1 2 3 4 5 with me. 8. I let others
know who I truly am as a person. 1 2 3 4 5 9. I seek feedback as a way of
understanding who 1 2 3 4 5 I really am as a person. 10. Other people know where I
stand on 1 2 3 4 5 controversial issues. 11. I do not emphasize my own point of view
at the 1 2 3 4 5 expense of others. 12. I rarely present a “false” front to others. 1 2
3 4 5 13. I accept the feelings I have about myself. 1 2 3 4 5 14. My morals guide
what I do as a leader. 1 2 3 4 5 15. I listen very carefully to the ideas of others before
1 2 3 4 5 making decisions. 16. I admit my mistakes to others. 1 2 3 4 5
Scoring
1. Sum the responses on items 1, 5, 9, and 13 (self-awareness). 2. Sum the responses on items 2,
6, 10, and 14 (internalized moral perspective). 3. Sum the responses on items 3, 7, 11,
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and 15 (balanced processing). 4. Sum the responses on items 4, 8, 12, and 16 (relational
transparency).
Chapter 11 Authentic Leadership 281
Total Scores
Self-Awareness: ______ Internalized Moral Perspective: _____ Balanced Processing: _____
Relational Transparency: _____
Scoring Interpretation
This self-assessment questionnaire is designed to measure your authentic leadership by assessing
four components of the process: self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced
processing, and relational transparency. By comparing your scores on each of these
components, you can determine which are your stronger and which are your weaker
components in each category. You can interpret your authentic leadership scores using
the following guideline: high = 16–20 and low = 15 and below. Scores in the upper range
indicate stronger authentic leadership, whereas scores in the lower range indicate weaker
authentic leadership.
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Appendix 4: Learning Impact Letter
Dear Jenni,
Before I stared this report, I was quite confident that I have achieved the greatest levels of
authenticity. However, both the primary and secondary research I conducted refuted by earlier
assumption. The process of the report was both educational and eye-opening. I had a chance to
analyze who I am as both a student and a professional. I am confident that this learning
experience remain impactful in the future.
Initially, the idea of using life stories to facilitate the development of authentic leader’s quality
seemed quite strange to me. However, the class discussion brought clarity on the issue.
Therefore, I was very confident when approaching the report. I plan to use the knowledge and
insight I have gained to enhance myself and increase my authenticity as a leader.
I am very grateful for this learning experience.
Yours Truly,
Jinzi.