Mike Horne Reviews "The Unlocked Leader"

"HR Leaders, are you nurturing authenticity in your teams?" This pivotal question opens the latest episode of the Authentic Change Podcast, where host Mike Horne engages HR professionals in a thought-provoking discussion on the impact of authenticity on team and organizational performance. Mike delves into the realm of authentic leadership, emphasizing its vital role in fostering environments that are not only healthy and productive, but also deeply meaningful.

In this episode, Mike brings to light the insights from Hortense Le Gentil's "The Unlocked Leader," complementing them with themes from his own publication, "Integrity by Design." He explores how Le Gentil's book beautifully underscores the significance of vulnerability, empathy, and authenticity in leadership. These qualities, Mike argues, are key to breaking free from conventional molds of leadership and unlocking the potential within teams and organizations.

Challenging HR leaders to reevaluate their leadership approaches, Mike advocates for a shift towards a culture that encourages individual authenticity. He shares his extensive experience in conflict resolution and pair coaching, illustrating how genuine, authentic connections can transform team dynamics for the better.

As the episode concludes, Mike extends an invitation to his listeners to explore further resources available on his website and welcomes feedback and suggestions for future topics. Mike also shares a preview into a content shift in Season 6 of the podcast to The People Dividend.  In this shift, Mike will explore how we enrich our own lives, how we pay dividends by authentic leadership, how these dividends pay yields to our influence and our impact on teams, how they benefit our organizations and their ability to do well in the world financially, socially, and in all the ways that are important to the communities in which we live.

Quotes:

• “I describe authenticity as congruency. The ability to make sure that our words and actions, and even better, our thoughts, words, and actions align.” (6:15 | Mike Horne)  
• “I'm always reminded that innovation doesn't occur because somebody has a bright light bulb that goes off. It is often because of work in pairs, work in trios, in some small groups. And I think we underestimate that.” (13:27 | Mike Horne)
• “The extent to which you are able to reflect on your leadership style is a way that you can begin to unlock your authentic self, get to know your values, and as you do, you'll begin to identify perhaps where there are conflicts in the expression of those values and what's holding you back from bringing more of who you are to what you do.” (14:47 | Mike Horne)  
• “Before it used to be all about experience and credentials in terms of climbing a corporate ladder, and today we know it's about learning and agility that are ways of defining career success.” (16:28 | Mike Horne)