Say YES! to Success Peg Stookey – Founder of Legacy Connection

Authentic Business????

Hello!

The word "authentic" has been coming up a lot lately. I recently joined a LinkedIn group called "Authentic Leadership". It's all about leading with character and creating a revolutionary movement to do so. The same day I joined the group I got an email with Andrew Cohen's quote of the week about "Authentic Self". One of our members asked that I post it so I thought I'd also like to discuss it. You can see the quote entitled "Where There Is No Other" here.

What does authenticity mean to you? To me it means being aware of what I believe and being able to translate that into my thoughts, words and actions. Leading with authenticity is a risky endeavor. It means that I have to be VERY sure of who I am, what I believe and how I want the world to view me AND to be affected by me. That's a lot of responsibility! Interestingly, while I was searching for the link to the quote I referenced above I found another of Cohen's quotes, entitled "Authentic Leaders", that's even more impactful for the leader in all of us:

It begins, The thought of being a leader may seem like an appealing idea to the ego, but the reality of what being an authentic leader implies scares the ego to death. It means ego death. Why? Because it means that we actually care so much about a higher purpose, a higher principle, a higher goal, that we're willing to make the most important sacrifices for the sake of what we are aspiring to accomplish.

As business owners we are all evolving leaders. Many of us get into business, at least in part, because of an ego thing that we have going. It's cool to own your own business! I love saying that I'm a business owner rather than an employee of XYZ company! People look up to me and look to me for advice simply because I own my own business!

Here's the thing though: you and I won't last very long in our businesses if we're only in it because of an ego trip. That's why the part of Cohen's quote that says, ...it means that we actually care so much about a higher purpose, a higher principle, a higher goal, that we're willing to make the most important sacrifices for the sake of what we are aspiring to accomplish" is so very important.

For years I've been saying that the most important tools of the entrepreneur are his/her vision and purpose. Let me update that advice: the most important tools of an entrepreneur that is building a successful, sustainable business model are vision and purpose. What's the difference? I'm sure it's obvious but if not, let me spell it out for you: Anyone can start a business. Print a few business cards and you're in business, right? It takes someone special to GROW a business. Before we can attempt to step into the role of an authentic leader of a sustainable business we HAVE to be convicted in our purpose and in search of clarity in our vision (I say "in search of" because we have to allow for the evolution of the business model in early stages).

As evolving leaders, I encourage us all to heed Andrew Cohen's words and ditch the ego while embracing the purpose! Do some digging into self. What's important to you? How do you define "authentic" and what role does that authenticity play in your business? These aren't necessarily easy questions to answer. It requires a degree of "nakedness" and transparency to be authentic. Guess what? Leadership also requires transparency! This will be great practice for all of us!

Let me know what you think and how this impacts YOUR business!

Just say YES!

Peg

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