True Leadership is Authentic
Authenticity is one of the most important qualities I look for in the people I want to spend my time with and (especially) leaders should have. It's a principle I keep pursuing deeply, and despite encountering multiple difficulties along the way, I believe it carries long-term rewards in our comparatively short human life. After all:
Why spend time being fake, when you can spend time being yourself?
A couple of weeks ago I was lucky to be surrounded by many top Asian business leaders as a participant at the SAP CEO Summit in Bangkok.
As I felt genuinely inspired in those 24 hours, I'd like to share some of my personal learnings in the form of quotes from these leaders as follows:
Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP:
"Optimism is the last free stimulus left in the world."
"Data is the most valuable asset you have in your company — except your people."
In times where everyone tries to politicize something — how to juggle public, personal, and professional domains? "Be an authentic human being."
How to prioritize life? "Think about what you want people to say about you when you are not there anymore. This is a good guidepost on managing work-life pressures and getting one's priorities right."
I met Bill the first time just over a year ago and to me, he truly is one of those authentic leaders. He tells more about it in his book "Winner's Dream" — which is a fantastic read that I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Ferdinand M. Dela Cruz (Ferdz), CEO of Manila Water:
"A crisis is the opportunity for leaders to recognize reality. It’s the fact check forced upon us to change the restrictions under which we often operate."
Chatri Sityodtong, Founder and CEO of ONE Championship:
"The principles of martial arts (integrity, humility, honor, respect, discipline, courage, and compassion) should be applied by everyone in business."
Chatri also shared his wisdom on some of the gifts that are truly worth giving to children and how to do self-analysis in a "selfie-world."
Van Le (on the right), Co-Founder at Xinja:
"A startup's main job is to create hope and remove fear."
Van also explained how a cause drives the culture and pointed out the importance of correctly understanding your investors' motivations.
If I had to point out a common theme between everyone in the room at the event, it would be authenticity. It became crystal clear that no one in the room got to where they are today without becoming their better selves, among other things, simply by being:
authentic with themselves; and
authentic with others — people from different walks of life, in different phases of life and even independent of their current status in society.
Whatever it is that you're currently working on or how you're pursuing your dreams and planning to reach them, I believe authenticity is a sustainable way to not just achieve, but also to feel fulfilled, and ultimately, to become a better you.