“Authenticity” has become a coveted badge. Leaders are urged to be genuine, transparent, and true to themselves. This well-intentioned advice often gets translated into a quest for the right behaviours. For the perfect communication style, a carefully curated persona designed to project trustworthiness and relatability. Just do a quick internet search and you’ll easily find workshops on “finding your authentic voice”. But more often than not, this means you would be putting up an act.
Perhaps this pursuit of authenticity is, in itself, inauthentic? What if the very act of trying to be authentic takes you further away from your genuine selves?
I have long come to believe that that true authenticity isn’t something you need to strive for or achieve. Instead, it’s your inherent nature, obscured by the noise of your thoughts and the pressure to conform to external expectations.
The key to unlocking this inherent authenticity lies not in adopting a new set of behaviours, but in cultivating presence and awareness in the here and now. Which, in fact, is so easy to remember: You only have now. And that’s a crucial first step.
The common understanding of authentic leadership often focuses on outward expressions: Sharing personal stories, admitting vulnerabilities, and aligning actions with stated values. While these can be components of genuine leadership, they can also become strategic tools, carefully deployed to build influence. This creates a subtle but significant disconnect. The leader is still operating from a place of calculation, of trying to achieve a desired outcome through a carefully constructed image.
Is this really what you want? Even reading this, it must sound like it’s anything but being true to yourself.
Non-duality and authenticity
Non-duality cuts through this duality of “self” and “performance.” It posits that beneath the layers of our conditioned thoughts, beliefs, and roles, there is a fundamental awareness. A spacious presence that is the ground of our being.
This isn’t a separate “true self” you need to find first, because it is what you are, always. When you lead from this space of presence, your actions and communication flow naturally and genuinely, without the need for contrivance.
Trying to act authentic is akin to polishing a mirror that is already reflecting perfectly, simply clouded by dust. The dust, in this analogy, represents the constant mental chatter, the anxieties about the future, the regrets of the past, and the ingrained patterns of behavior that stem from a sense of a separate, limited self.
These mental constructs obscure your inherent authenticity.
Presence, on the other hand, is the act of gently wiping away this dust. By bringing your full attention to the present moment you quiet the internal noise. And with this you connect with a deeper sense of being.
From this grounded space, your responses are more genuine, your empathy more sincere, and your leadership more impactful because it stems from a place of unadulterated truth.
Best of all, it doesn’t take a course or a huge time investment to achieve that. The very first step is one you can take right this moment: Recognise that each moment is unique, that it’s the only moment of reality so to say. And then we can take it from there.
Authenticity simply won’t show up, if you’re buried in the past or too worried about the future.
Connect with me on LinkedIn, and I’m more than happy to have a conversation with you on this topic anytime.
