Quit the script: Why authenticity wins every time
Key Highlights
- Authenticity over image: Genuine, transparent leadership builds deeper trust than polished personas or persuasive tactics that can feel manipulative or insincere.
- Core pillars of authentic leadership: Self-awareness, internalized values, balanced decision-making, and relational transparency foster credibility, connection, and psychological safety.
- Stronger teams and outcomes: Authentic leaders boost engagement, loyalty, and performance by modeling honesty, vulnerability, and alignment between values and actions.
In a world of self-help books with strategies to obtain x, y, and z and be the ultimate best at winning people and getting them on your side, genuine, authentic, and down-to-earth individuals are hard to come by. There are numerous methods and strategies to what I’d call “manipulate others into getting what you want from them,” which includes using the art of persuasion and “artistic” language, buzzwords, projecting a public image of perfection and grandiosity, and putting on a persona of a winner others want to associate with. However, an individual who is not authentic can come off as a robot, distant, calculated, and difficult to connect with.1 Such a persona is often put on for social conformity and to appear successful and powerful, but it is often misaligned with truth, is superficial and misleading, and often masks a deep layer of insecurity and the need for external validation.
While such a charismatic personality draws others, if not rooted in integrity and humility, it can be off-putting to anyone with any degree of discernment, depth, and understanding. No longer can words dazzle and attract if they don’t come from a genuine heart that truly cares about others. A leader should be transparent, approachable, and genuinely invested in the success of others.1 Eloquent speech may attract like a magnet, but rarely is it enough to keep trustworthy people around for the long haul if it’s fake and masks wrong intentions.
Leadership is about embracing authenticity
That is why I suggest doing an inner work of healing our internal wounds, learning to speak the truth in love, fostering a right heart intention, and taking the scary chance of presenting our real authentic selves to a world that’s trying to make us anyone but who we really are. Enough with pretentiousness and fake smiles that mask disagreement, deception, bitterness, or ill will. Enough with wanting to appear imperturbable, emotionless, ultracomposed, and unmoved. Especially as leaders, we must realize leadership is more than the mastery of skills and strategies and using conformity to fit in.2 It should be about standing out, standing apart, and embracing authenticity, because imperfections, quirks, acting natural, and owning our mistakes are attractive and build trust and credibility.
Authentic leaders are transparent; they embrace vulnerability, are genuine and faithful to their values, encourage open and honest communication, create psychological safety where others feel comfortable to be themselves, where thoughts, opinions, and concerns are shared without fear of judgment or negative repercussions, and where a culture of authenticity can thrive.2 Authenticity is “a leadership strategy that inspires loyalty, encourages innovation, and creates environments where people truly want to excel.”1
Our society is tired of putting on our masks every morning and taking them off when no one is around. We are tired of deception, manipulation, exaggeration, and facades. What a weight it bears mentally and emotionally on us all when our true selves and what we present to the world are misaligned. I’m not suggesting we be unprofessional, but rather, professional without putting on a persona to fit in. We should be authentic by using language not to impress but to speak candidly. By no means am I suggesting reverting back to grade school vernacular. I am recommending using language others can connect with and relate to without the exaggerated formality.
4 components of authentic leadership
We are all leaders in some degree, whether in our homes or among friends and colleagues. Many are in professional roles with big titles. Everywhere we go we are either leading or being led, intentionally or unintentionally. Leading with authenticity may be a new concept and one with multiple definitions, so for this reason, I’ll focus on the four components of authentic leadership3:
1. Self-awareness: understanding ourselves, our weaknesses and strengths, the impact we have on others; reflecting on our identity, emotions, core values, motives, goals, and what we stand for; and understanding who we really are at the deepest level3
2. Internalized moral perspective: a self-regulatory process, which means using our internal moral standards and values to guide behavior versus allowing group or societal pressure to control us3
3. Balanced processing: a self-regulatory behavior where we analyze information objectively and can consider others’ opinions prior to making decisions. This includes avoiding bias and favoritism, soliciting varying viewpoints and perspectives, and staying objective.3
4. Relational transparency: being open and honest in presenting our true selves to other people, which is self-regulating because one can control their transparency with others, and includes core feelings, motives, inclinations, and both positive and negative aspects of ourselves. It is communicating openly and being real in our relationships with others.3
Authentic leaders understand being vulnerable. In the appropriate context and time, and within professional boundaries, it builds connection and trust with others.2 Such leaders can be transparent and share their stories, experiences, mistakes, failures, and lessons to foster learning, growth, and be relatable with team members.2 They “bring real character to their roles,” and “seek a genuine connection built on trust and a focus on the mutual well-being and development of all involved.”2
How team members can benefit
By practicing authentic leadership, leaders create a cohesive team environment and build strong relationships with their followers because of mutual trust that results from them taking accountability and being honest, ethical, and transparent.4 When leaders show their vulnerabilities and admit their imperfections, they create a safe space for employees to do the same, because they know their leader cares—ultimately bonding and strengthening the team.1 It creates a positive work climate because of leaders who practice consistent values and behaviors, lead by example, and listen and focus on the needs of their followers, which increases employee engagement, performance, and innovation and positively impacts team culture.4
Authentic leaders help guide and develop the right ethical values in their followers by being role models themselves.4 Because they take accountability for their actions, are loyal to their principles over short-term success, and stick to their moral compass, they boost their credibility, establish a good reputation for themselves and their organizations, and are deemed dependable and trustworthy.1 Such “humility demonstrates strength, not weakness, and enhances their credibility because it assures others they’re leading with honesty and self-awareness.”1 Leading authentically humanizes leadership by removing distance between the leader and follower; it makes the leader more relatable, increasing employee loyalty and engagement.1
According to a 2021 survey of just under 7,000 people registered for the Simmons Leadership Conference, 93% of respondents believed authenticity in the workplace is important and is beneficial for both individuals and organizations, and those who were able to be authentic at their organizations (71%) felt more confident, more engaged (60%), and happier (46%), confirming previous studies that correlate authenticity to greater job satisfaction, in-role performance, and work engagement.5 Respondents who felt they could be authentic at work felt they could build stronger relationships with colleagues (53%), were more able to do their best work (52%), were more effective (48%), more productive (44%), likely to go above and beyond (42%), and were more committed to stay (30%).5
Top authentic qualities and behaviors
Additionally, the study found the top five authentic qualities in individuals (in order of importance) to be: (1) honesty, (2) openness, (3) transparency, (4) confidence, and (5) vulnerability, and in managers to be (1) honesty, (2) openness, (3) transparency, (4) vulnerability, and (5) confidence. They ranked confidence a lesser value over vulnerability in managers than in individuals.5
Lastly, the top five behaviors of authenticity included (in order of importance): (1) when making a mistake being able to own it and try to make things better, (2) trying to ensure actions have a positive impact on others, (3) striving to tell the truth even if the news is bad, (4) being able to act according to personal values, and (5) aligning one’s identity (who they are) with how one presents themselves at work.5
Results from the study reveal a consistent picture of what authenticity looks like, suggesting a desire to be who we are at our core, act in accordance with personal values, and to be surrounded with individuals who are aligned in their identity, presentation, and values.5
Do you want to trust others and want others to find you trustworthy? Do you desire to have genuine connections with others? Do you desire to have others not embellish and exaggerate for purposes of persuasion and manipulation? Being authentic “involves being true to oneself, displaying transparency and integrity, and fostering positive relationships with those you lead.”2
My suggestion is to start with ourselves, to remove our facades and fake personas, do an inner work of healing our wounds and wrong perceptions, prune and purge to foster a right mind and heart attitude, trust in our natural abilities, accept and embrace our failures and victories, and speak the truth in love and humility. Because remember, “sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same” and “we are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation.”6
Also by the author:
- Take the stage and engage
- Cultural intelligence and diversity awareness are essential for dental practice success
Editor's note: This article appeared in the June 2026 print edition of Dental Economics magazine. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.
References
- Schwartz C. Why authenticity is the best leadership strategy. Engage for Success. Accessed September 30, 2025. https://engageforsuccess.org/why-authenticity-is-the-best-leadership-strategy/
- Perkins KM. Authenticity: the key to great leadership and how to embrace it. May 27, 2023. Accessed September 30, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathymillerperkins/2023/05/27/authenticity-the-key-to-great-leadership-and-how-to-embrace-it/
- Northouse PG. Leadership: Theory and Practice, 8th ed. Sage; 2019.
- Jiewen X, Ahmad JB, Xiaoyang L. Authentic leadership; origins and foundations: a review of literature. IJARPED. 2024;13(3):1301-1309. doi:10.6007/IJARPED/v13-i3/21881
- 2021 Leadership Development Survey. The importance of authenticity in the workplace. Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership. 2021. https://www.inclusiveleadership.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-Importance-of-Authenticity-in-the-Workplace.pdf
- Chambers O. Oswald Chambers short quotes. LibQuotes. Accessed September 30, 2025. https://libquotes.com/oswald-chambers/short-quotes
About the Author
Rada Kerimova, PhD, MBA, BSDH, RDH
Rada Kerimova, PhD, MBA, BSDH, RDH, has been a practicing dental hygienist since 2004. She obtained her AS in dental hygiene from Shoreline Community College, her BSDH from Eastern Washington University, and her MBA and PhD in organizational leadership and business consulting from Northwest University. When not serving and caring for her patients, she values continuous learning and personal development.