Authenticity for Leaders: It’s Not About You

Here’s the deal. This post was inspired by a Super PM Boot Camp, where something became clear to me that I want to share. My hope is that you can implement it on your project and get to a spot where you can more authentically do the things you need to do as a leader. That is how you progress, fulfill the measure of your creation, be successful in your role, get promotions, get home on time, and run the projects you want to run.

Short answer: For a leader, authenticity is not about doing only what feels natural to you. Workers do the things that motivate themselves. Leaders do the things that motivate the team, like giving a speech, holding someone accountable, or having a hard conversation, even when it feels uncomfortable. The only exceptions are things that are inappropriate, harassing, or illegal.

The $50 Million Exercise

At our boot camps, we have exercises that force people out of their comfort zone to perform and do things they would not normally do. One of the big ones is winning $50 million. I do not think it is a secret that leadership development trainings use this technique, so I am not going to be shy about sharing it.

You get in front of a group of people, and you teach them how to get into state using focus, physiology, and language, meaning the words you say to yourself. You learn to flip it on like a switch and give one hundred percent. It is really a math formula. I told the group that happiness equals your reality minus your expectations. If your reality is less than your expectations, you end up with a negative number, and negative happiness. To change that, you form habits, and the formula as I teach it is that a habit equals a trigger, plus the habit loop, plus a reward, plus sixty days.

So we do exercises where people learn to do hard things and form hard habits, the things leaders do, so they can form great habits for their career and elevate their happiness. One of those exercises is to come up with full enthusiasm, lose it, and pretend you just won $50 million.

Brandon Montero usually does the introduction, and I am usually the demo. I flail all over the place, go crazy, no control, totally let loose. I have conditioned myself to do this because I have done it so many times. It is the ability to break through your blocks to leadership, and we never get anywhere in professional development trainings unless we do this exercise.

The Objection

Inevitably, and this is totally fine, I am not making fun of it at all, there are great, deep thinkers who say, I would not authentically do that. I would not flail around. I would not pretend to win $50 million.

Brandon and I have had this discussion with people multiple times, and our answer has always been the same. Look at what leaders have to do.

What Do Leaders Have to Do That Feels Inauthentic?

• Give a speech.
• Do an interview in front of an owner.
• Talk to new people.
• Market and sell.
• Hold somebody accountable.
• Have a hard conversation.
• Forgive someone.
• Apologize

On a project, that might mean leading the morning huddle with energy when you would rather stand in the back, or telling an owner face to face that the schedule slipped.

Whatever the hard, gut-wrenching thing is that you have to do, or get to do, that you are really nervous about, you will want the ability to get into state with focus, physiology, and language, and you will have wanted that practice. Whether it is authentic to you or not, it is really about whether you can go do the thing. If you can do the thing with the $50 million, you can do anything. Sometimes it lands, and sometimes it does not.

What Authenticity Means

A thought came to me recently as a pure burst of inspiration, and I loved it. I looked up the definition of authenticity. It says authenticity means you are true to your own personality, values, and spirit, regardless of the pressure you are under to act otherwise.

I get the definition. But here is the insight I think is key. Workers, and individuals who do not lead others, do things that get themselves authentically motivated. When they motivate themselves, they will usually only do things that are authentic, or that feel authentic, to themselves. I love workers, by the way. Leaders, though, do things that get the team authentically motivated.

If your team is inspired by a speech, by high energy, by you setting an example, or by something you would not normally do, you get to do that, authentically or inauthentically, I do not care what you call it. It is not about you. It is about you motivating others on a team. That is what people do not get.

You Signed on the Dotted Line

I do care about authenticity. But when you are a leader, you automatically signed on the dotted line and agreed to do things you do not want to do, for the benefit of your people.

There are exceptions, and they are a different story.

• Inappropriate behaviors.
• Anything that would be harassing or inappropriate, sexual or otherwise.
• Illegal things and HR-type

But if you are saying, I am a leader, and it is not authentic for me to give a performance review, or run a meeting, or fire an employee, then I do not care. Authenticity does not really come into it, except for the HR-type and illegal things I just mentioned. You do not get to be individually authentic anymore. You get to do the things that authentically move your people forward.

There are a lot of real deep thinkers, great people, who think, why would I do that, it is not authentic. There is nothing wrong with thinking that. But when you signed up to be a leader, you signed up to do things that feel inauthentic so that your people can be authentically motivated.

Bottom line: Workers and individuals do things that get themselves authentically motivated. Leaders do things that get the team authentically motivated.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

Want to build this skill with your team? See our Superintendent Boot Camp and leadership coaching.

So here is the challenge. The next time you are about to say that something is not authentic for you, ask whether it would authentically move your team forward.

On we go.

FAQ

What is the $50 million exercise?

Participants pretend they just won $50 million and show full enthusiasm, using focus, physiology, and language to get into state. It builds the ability to flip a switch and give one hundred percent, which helps leaders break through their blocks.

What is the difference between how workers and leaders think about authenticity?

Workers and individuals do things that get themselves authentically motivated. Leaders do things that get the team authentically motivated, even if those things feel inauthentic to them personally.

Does this mean a leader should do anything to motivate people?

No. The exceptions are anything harassing or inappropriate, and illegal or HR-type issues.

What are the formulas Jason shares in this post?

Happiness equals your reality minus your expectations, and a habit equals a trigger plus the habit loop plus a reward plus sixty days.

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