Entrepreneur's Table

  Can a leader become too polished? Professionalism matters. Preparation matters. Excellence matters. But leadership also requires something that cannot be manufactured by a perfectly polished presentation: **A recognizable human being.** In this episode of **The View from My Window on the World Podcast**, I reflect on authenticity, vulnerability, approachability, and the relationship between the leader and the people being led. Do the people on our teams know more than our mission statement? Do they understand what drives us, what we value, why the mission matters to us, and something of the person behind the leadership? And perhaps an even more challenging question: **Would members of your team be uncomfortable if you unexpectedly walked into a serious conversation in which they were honestly discussing your leadership?** Authentic leadership does not mean indiscriminate disclosure or abandoning appropriate boundaries. It means developing enough congruence between our stated valu...