Authentic leadership (AL) focuses on enhancing the capabilities and capacities of leaders. Instead of focusing on the leader, this article considers the ethical challenges of fostering authenticity among employees. One such challenge is that marginalized groups may feel unable to be true to their values, a key premise of authentic leadership. To foster workplaces where marginalized groups feel able to be true to themselves, we must consider the cultural and structural barriers that can negatively affect people’s ability to express themselves in the workplace. Hence, when considering the merits of AL, it is important for human resource development (HRD) professionals to consider what occurs when employees do not fit institutional norms.
The Solution
Creating the conditions for a relational authentic approach to AL that allows authentic otherness to flourish is an important and complex ethical task, one that HRD scholars and practitioners are uniquely placed to encourage.
The Stakeholders
HRD scholars and practitioners interested in creating the conditions that encourage the flourishing of authentic otherness among employees.
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