Questions
- Do you find Brené Brown to be an authentic leader? Why or why not?
- This chapter discusses three different perspectives—intrapersonal, interpersonal, and developmental—used to define authentic leadership. Discuss how these perspectives do or do not fit Brené Brown.
- Discuss how each of the five dimensions of authentic leadership identified by George applies to Brené Brown: A.Purpose B.Values C. Relationships D. Self-discipline E. Heart
- Discuss how each of the components of the theoretical approach applies to Brené Brown: A. Self-awareness B. Internalized moral perspective C. Balanced processing D.Relational transparency
- This approach describes four key positive psychological attributes that impact authentic leadership. Discuss each in relationship to Brené Brown. Confidence B. Hope C. Optimism D.Resilience
- Critical life events are a key component in the authentic leadership model (see Figure 9.2). What do you think are the critical events that shaped Brené Brown and who she has become?”
Case 9.3
- Yes, I found Brene Brown to be an authentic leader for these reasons. Authentic leadership is a style of leadership that focuses on transparent and ethical leadership behavior and encourages open sharing of information needed to make decisions while accepting followers’ inputs all these things are there in Brene Brown so she can be termed the Authentic leader.
- Yes, this perspective fits the Brene Brown related to intrapersonal, interpersonal, and developmental used to define authentic leadership. It is because Brene Brown has shared some of the circumstances with other people which came to be termed as interpersonal, some of the circumstances she did not share and kept with herself which is intrapersonal, and certain circumstances helped her to develop and in her growth of career as well.
- The five dimensions of authentic leadership identified by George apply to Brené Brown are stated below-
Passion = Purpose- Here George discusses the passion of the leader like what is the passion of the leader toward the work and how he is motivated to do the work properly.
Behavior = Values, Here George discusses the behavior of the leaders and how the leaders should behave with their employees and teammates. Brené Brown is a good leader and hence her good behavior toward her team members shows that. n
Connectedness = Relationships, Brené Brown can be seen that she connect with each of the members and understands and interacts with them as well. This is the reason that she is liked by members.
Consistency = Self-Discipline, Brené Brown is the disciple person and it can be said by seeing his leadership way that he handles the person and always maintains disciple in the work.
Compassion = Heart, Brené Brown here is a very good-hearted person and it can be said through her work and the way she helps and listens to other people.
He discusses each of the dimensions and how it is important in life as well.
4. Each of the components of the theoretical approach that applies to Brené Brown is stated below-
Self-awareness– Here it can be seen that Brené Brown is clear and aware of the things that are taking place with her. Self-awareness means the person is aware of the things that are taking place. Here in this case as well Brené Brown is aware of the things that are taking place and this is the reason that she can able to handle the situation properly.
Internalized moral perspective– Internalized moral perspective refers to a leader who retains coherence between expressed core principles and judgments and demonstrates justice and a strong level of professional practice (Iszatt‐White & Kempster, p. 356). Here this approach applies to Brené Brown as she believes in professionalism and this is the case that she always maintains a good relationship with her teammates by helping them at work.
Balanced processing– Balanced processing implies being open to processing both positive and negative self-relevant information with minimal influence of ego-defensive mechanisms. Here Brené Brown provides information about himself as well. Here Brené Brown provides detailed information about herself so that other people can able to learn from her about the things she has done and cannot repeat the same and also reveals the good and positive things as well.
Relational transparency– Brené Brown has always maintained transparency in the work and provided the information related to it transparently and clearly. Transparency is an important aspect of each work and it is the reason that people and teammates like Brené Brown should always maintain transparency in their work and always say both sides of themselves positive or negative and not think about what others will think. Here transparent nature helps to get more trust from the team members.
5. The four key positive psychological attributes that impact authentic leadership namely Confidence, Hope, Optimism, and Resilience. Brene Brown was a confident woman who believed that one needs to be oneself under all circumstances. She was confident about herself and her vision and values. This is one of the most important things in leadership. A leader needs to be confident in the decisions he makes. He should have the confidence to accept his failures and make new decisions. The second one is hope. Brene Brown was a lady of hope. Even though she was not selected in her school days for the drill team she kept on going. Also in her professional life, she faced many problems and criticisms. But she kept hope (Della-Latta & Burkett, 2021, p.165). This is a great example to the leaders. Leadership should be based on hope. There can be so many things going wrong when one is a leader. The leader needs to hope for the best and go forward. The third attribute is optimism. Brene Brown had so much optimism in her talents and abilities. She was optimistic that her words would be heard by many and that she could convince others. The leaders also should have optimism. It is a positive attitude that helps a leader to stay focused and productive. The last attribute is resilience. Brene Brown was highly resilient. when faced with the trouble she was resilient and waited patiently for the problems to be over. A good leader is resilient against problems and troubles. So leadership should have all the four attributes discussed.
6. Critical life events are a key component of the authentic leadership model. The critical event that shaped Brené Brown and who she has become is the rejection from the school drill team. This was an incident in Brene Brown’s life that molded her. Not getting the selection for the school drill team was disappointing for her. But this was something that made her accept her shortcomings and motivated her to go forward. She often felt not in a group with others (Alilyyani, Wong & Cummings, 2018, p.35). This uneasiness and the feeling of loneliness made her determined to overcome herself and her worries and to see things from a new perspective. She also worked in different fields like being a bartender, and other roles. She often experienced shame and vulnerability. This was something she experienced more in her life. This situation of shame and vulnerability made her strong and made her the Brene Brown we know today.
References
Alilyyani, B., Wong, C. A., & Cummings, G. (2018). Antecedents, mediators, and outcomes of authentic leadership in healthcare: A systematic review. International journal of nursing studies, 83, 34-64.
Della-Latta, J., & Burkett, K. (2021). From Popular Theory to Practical Application: How Brené Brown’s Theories of Courageous Leadership Inform the Fields of International Education. Adult Education, and Online Education. In B. Kutsyuruba, S. Cherkowski, & KD Walker (Eds.), Leadership for Flourishing in Educational Contexts, 163-176.
Iszatt‐White, M., & Kempster, S. (2019). Authentic leadership: Getting back to the roots of the ‘root construct’? International Journal of Management Reviews, 21(3), 356-369.
