“Authenticity is the alignment of head, mouth, heart and feet – thinking, saying, feeling and doing the same thing – consistently. This builds trust, and followers love leaders they can trust.”
– Lance Secretan, (b. 1939) leadership authority and former Managing Director of Manpower, Inc. in the UK
I was wrong.
I am sorry.
Here’s what I learned.
Those three statements in that order are pretty powerful.
Notice the absence of the word “but.”
“I was wrong, but…” “I am sorry, but…” “Here’s what I learned, but…”
The word “but” contradicts the preceding statement. It just does. If there’s a “but” we don’t really mean what we are saying…
When we’re real, it’s ok to be wrong. It’s ok to be sorry. And, whether we’re real or not, we’d dang sure better be learning along the way.
When we’re not being real, we’re averting blame, or worse yet, blaming. When we’re not being real, we’re the victim, not a participant in the relationship. When we’re not being real, our “but’s” get in the way.
When we’re real, we’re using the missteps to get closer to the outcomes we all seek together. When we’re real, we are comfortable admitting to others when we screw up, and we’re adamant that it become a foundation for getting it more better (“more better” is a technical term…) the next time around. And, before we can admit to someone else that we were wrong, we need to be comfortable admitting it to ourselves.
Authenticity makes a difference.
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