Who is your “True North”?

8 May 2016

Change2020 works with a variety of industries and many different leaders. Within this diversity, the one thing that resonates as critical for the success of these individual leaders is having either someone or a small number of people who are their True North.

Bill George’s book – Discover your True North: Become an Authentic Leader (2015) – building on his 2007 book (True North) – confirms that authentic leaders are true to themselves and to their beliefs. Authentic leaders are needed for future and this has become the “gold standard”.

A person who is a True North is someone whom the leader trusts explicitly, is able to act authentically with and whom he/she can express vulnerability. They are people who can provide a leader advice, support, guidance and feedback as they manoeuvre through the complexities of the changing and ambiguous business environment – filled with challenges, opportunities and risks.

Every leader needs a True North – no matter how experienced, competent or successful.

As a senior executive, my True North was a person over 10 years my junior. Her name is Monica. Monica understood me as a leader – my motivations, drivers and values. She was courageous enough to tell some home truths or suggest alternatives for me to consider. At times, Monica was just there to listen when I was trying to work through a problem. She didn’t always agree and she told me when she thought I was wrong.

Monica was initially a fellow employee who had a matrixed reporting relationship with me. The trust-based working relationship developed over time as we worked towards the common purpose and achieving business results.

My True North made me a better person, a better leader with better business outcomes.

I gave my True North “permission” to:

  • Tell it like it is
  • Challenge my assumptions
  • Work with me to resolve problems
  • Push me outside your comfort zone
  • Remind me to remain optimistic
  • Get me to think differently
  • Make me laugh when I was starting to take myself too seriously

It is sometimes lonely as a leader and having at least one True North should assist you to be the best version of your authentic self while delivering business results in an environment of continuous change and ambiguity.

Do you have a True North? Or have your identified your True North?

Kerryn Fewster

Kerryn is the Founder and Director of Change 2020. She has consulted extensively in the area of Transition and Transformation. She places emphasis on strategy development and solution implementation to minimise people and operational impacts associated with major change.

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