Authenticity: The Way To The Millennial's Heart

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The authentic self is a goal for all four generations alive today: Seniors, Boomers, Xers, but most especially Millennials. It can mean something different for each generation, and it evolves over time. We believe that Millennials are the most critical – they are the future. The better you are at being an authentic leader, the more your Millennials employees will appreciate you.

A key point in our forthcoming book, Leading, Managing, Effectively Working with Millennials(we cross out Leading and Managing because they are too strong of words for them) is that Millennials have been taught a postmodern worldview, which is quite different from the generations before. We must better understand the postmodern worldview to effectively work with Millennials.

This was written with Sienna Zampino

We’ve heard time and time again that the postmodern worldview is largely shaped by the influence of technology and social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… the plethora of social media has made it harder to fake it. People can learn about others much easier in this day and age and put their stories to the test. Before any scheduled meeting, strangers can (and do) simply Google your name and have instant access to your information, from your LinkedIn profile to other more random information about you. I am amazed what people I have never meet can bring up in our first meeting. Being authentic, these days, has much to do with the self you portray both online and offline – do they match up, or is one, presumably your on-line one, merely a persona?

We believe that authenticity can be considered to be one of the ten values regarded as most essential to Postmoderns. The academic literature suggest that one good way to look it is to view it from two perspectives: constructive and existential.

Constructive authenticity refers to the cultural context of what is considered to be authentic. Social media has enabled Postmoderns to communicate their true feelings with much less anxiety about being personally judged. It also gives them the ability, however, to distort information to fulfill an agenda without much consequence. Facebook, Twitter and other social media/networking sites provide an outlet for endless self-expression.

Many Postmoderns struggle to separate their online and offline personas; online, they are able to say and do whatever they like with very limited consequences. They can mask their true emotions and shape themselves to appear to be whoever their online peers expect them to be, thereby fulfilling the social expectations of each other user. Or at times, just play with alternative identities.

In life, however, the truth may be quite different. They could be very unhappy with their offline situation. By confusing the two worlds, they adopt their online image in the real world, thereby losing their authentic self. This can make the “true self” hard to identify.

In the age of social media, authenticity for Postmoderns is characterized by a consistency and continuity between their online personas and their lives in the real world. The more congruence there is between the two, the more authentic the Postmodern appears to be.

Existential authenticity refers to the current pressures of societal expectations, norms and values. Why is this important? Postmoderns want to be able to be themselves. They are not interested in playing “the game” their parents once did. For many Boomers, the cost of playing the game was too high: failed marriages, too much travel, too little work-life balance, etc. Reacting to the pressures that many of their parents felt, Postmoderns don’t want to be squeezed too much into a corporate model. They want their employers to respect their individual differences and embrace the potential that these unique qualities can bring.

Corporations, however, too often expect workers to conform to the pre-existent culture of the corporation. From the 1950s, we had the rise of the Organizational Man: Postmoderns are expected to not only be qualified for the job itself, but also be a good fit for the specific business unit in which they will work, and the existing culture of the organization.

Trying to conform to these restrictive and possibly outdated expectations, Postmoderns are forced to hide their true feelings and engage in emotional acting in which they project ‘appropriate’ feelings. The very expectation to obey the rules and guidelines of the company runs counter to their worldview, which values diversity. It restricts their ability to show who they truly are.

Millennials tend to be idealistic. They have great stores of energy and hope. They want to believe that every person’s apparent character represents who they truly are (their authentic self) and that the culture within organizations will encourage and enable this authenticity.

The reality, however, is that the environment in which Postmoderns find themselves is not as rosy as they had hoped. That being said, a culture which supports the expression of the authentic self should not be seen as a utopian impossibility. Rather, it should be acknowledged that there are certain modern obstacles that must be understood and removed in order for that to become reality.

Authentic Leadership

So, what does authentic leadership look like? Researchers describe an array of elements and actions, however, drawing on management thinkers Kevin Kruse, Jon Mertz and Maureen Laufenberg, four basic principles struck us as particularly helpful:

1) Authentic leaders need to be self-aware and genuine. Before they will be able to encourage and support self-authenticity among Postmoderns, Moderns must be aware of their own strength, limitations and emotions. A starting place for excellent leaders is self-knowledge and awareness. Moderns need to be able to demonstrate their weaknesses and be more open in communicating their feelings. They need to acknowledge their imperfections and mistakes. Give up trying to present a perfect façade, it is untrue and, thankfully, a bad thing with this generation.

2) Authentic leaders need to be mission driven and focused on results. They must focus on the goals and missions of the organization before their own self-interests. They do not allow the lure of power, money or ego to limit their ability to get the job done. They connect with people and motivate them to pursue common objectives. They embrace the idea of community; a community focused on doing something worthwhile in the world, in a way that reflects excellence. For Boomers, at the peak of your career or on the down side, giving up on the power thing should be less problematic. Throw out those books on power and how to get it and keep it.

3) Authentic leaders lead with their hearts, not with their minds. They are concerned with the well-being of the group. They follow a guiding set of empowering principles which lead them to consider all actions taken insofar as the outcomes should result in increased well-being for all involved. They emphasize trust and respect in order to create an empathetic, supportive environment. Karl has been shadowing senior women leaders. Other excellent academic work and his research seems to suggest that many, but not all, senior women leaders over 45 are good at being empathetic. If you are not, take the time to lean back and watch some senior women show this trait in action – a great chance to learn.

4) Authentic leaders focus on the long term. They evaluate the possible future impacts of their day to day activities. They strive for sustainable and enduring results, rather than those which are immediate and short-lived.

Being authentic is challenging. Some of the world’s greatest leaders struggle with being authentic, so don’t be discouraged if you’re finding this difficult to implement. However, just by being aware of these characteristics, you’ll naturally steer towards exercising authenticity, which your Postmoderns will love.