The A to Z of Authentic Leadership

This book takes you on an A to Z journey around the concept of personal and leadership authenticity, through the ideas and examples of various psychologists, philosophers, political figures and business leaders. In 26 bite-sized chapters the content explores how a variety of individuals and ideas illustrate authentic leadership (and in some cases are the polar opposite!) - from Gandhi's unwavering insistence on truth and JFK's intellectual maturity, to Hitler's borderline psychosis and Trump's malignant psychopathy. It considers the ideas of philosophers and psychologists such as Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Carl Rogers, Viktor Frankl and Irvin Yalom, and reveals what they have to say on the subject of authenticity. It explores what makes an Authentic Leader as illustrated through the leadership case studies of Elon Musk, Henry Ford, Red Adair and Kofi Annan and demonstrates how authentic leaders operate when they embody their own natural leadership temperaments. The book begins with a slightly disconcerting look at how the modern world may be hijacking our pursuit of personal authenticity and ends with an invitation to the reader to reflect on their experience of the 2020 global pandemic and what this has meant for them in terms of if and how they authentically engage with life.Traversing the alphabet, the book moves seamlessly between psychological theory, philosophical thought, and leadership illustration. Though this may seem slightly inelegant to some, it does make the book agreeably bite-sized and eminently dip-in and out-able!