Authenticity and balance in leadership among women executives.

摘要

This research investigated the perceptions of women executives regarding how the elements of authenticity and balance help shape and sustain leadership in their lives. Recent research has clarified that women leaders desire to be authentic and successfully integrate their personal and professional lives in meaningful ways. Currently, there is a paucity of research targeting what is working for women leaders amid the well-documented barriers, particularly among women executive leaders. This research aimed to alleviate this paucity by exploring women executives' perceptions regarding how authenticity and balance help shape and sustain their leadership. Twenty-three women executives representing for-profit, nonprofit, and public organizations comprised this study's sample. All women executives were accomplished leaders and/or scholars who were peer selected through a formal nomination process.This qualitative study used the Delphi method participants received information and responded to surveys using asynchronous electronic mail. Several iterations explored women executives' perceptions, reflections, and judgments through an open-ended questionnaire format. This process emphasized consensus building and accordance among the women executives through controlled feedback and systematic information sharing. By analyzing participants' responses throughout the iteration process, the researcher indicated measures of agreement and identified how authenticity and balance help shape and sustain leadership among women executives.The findings demonstrated what authenticity and balance meant to the women executives, and how each impacted their leadership practice. Respondents reported obstacles to authenticity and balance and also expressed approaches for overcoming these obstacles. Many of the findings confirmed prior research on the elements of authenticity and balanced imbued in women's leadership.By analyzing the women executives' perceptions throughout this study, the researcher made two conclusions. First, authenticity and balance were inextricably linked, each supported the other. Furthermore, the interconnectedness of authenticity and balance increased the women executives' overall leadership effectiveness. Secondly, the congruence between a healthy organizational fit and a woman executive's commitments and priorities helped shape and sustain a sense of wholeness and direction within her leadership that maximized both personal and organizational contributions.