Week 43: The Courage To Stand Up For Yourself

Welcome to Week 43 of the Authenticity@Work Leadership Tool-kit! My intention for this series is to share a quick tool each week to help you lead with more authenticity, adaptability and inspiration so we can together create workplaces where we bring the best of ourselves and inspire others. So grab a journal and an accountability partner to make these practices even more powerful for you!

In last week’s post we talked about the courage to seek the truth. Did you find areas where you could let go of assumptions and act out of authenticity?

Often, as we start to discover who we are and what we really want, it can be a fearful experience because it causes confusion. We discover we are not the cardboard cutout image we had created of ourselves to look good to others— that many of us even believed was the true us. We start to experiment with new behaviors—perhaps standing up to others where we had previously folded. This can cause disruptions in patterns of relationships. We are no longer being the person others had seen in the past. Others resist this change they see in us, and the fear of losing connection with others can also cause us to seesaw back and forth. In times such as these, we need the courage to shed old skin, old patterns, and even relationships that don’t work anymore.

Becoming conscious of this pattern of growth is key here. If we are going to pursue a path of greater authenticity, we must be willing to go through a period of fear and confusion, because all the rules of the game we thought we knew are now being called into question as we forge the path less traveled.

This Week’s Tool:

Interview your inner courageous one. Ask it where it would like to have impact in your life. Ask it what it wishes for you. What could be possible for you if it were present all the time?

Get the latest resources for Authenticity@Work (this tab will get updated with all kinds of cool resources). Curious to know more about the book? Read the reviews about Wired for Authenticity here.

This article was written by Henna Inam, C-level executive coach, global speaker, and author of the book Wired for Disruption. She helps leaders grow their agility to be a force for good and thrive in times of change. They create organizations that drive breakthroughs in innovation, growth, and engagement. In roles including Head E-Innovation and Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer, Henna drove transformation throughout her 20-year corporate career as an executive with Fortune 500 companies. Join the thousands who follow her blog here. Connect on Linkedin.