The privilege to be authentic: Positionality and leadership

This paper pushes the conversation about authentic leadership by introducing the variable of identity. Recent discourse on authentic leadership identifies it as an effective and desirable approach to leadership, but to date the conversation has failed to acknowledge that some in leadership are more able to pursue authenticity given their privileged identities, and others in leadership face more risk in authenticity given their minoritized identities. Using key understandings of privilege and authenticity, along with personal testimonies, we provide recommendations for both those with privileged statuses and those with minoritized statuses on how to effectively embrace and employ authentic leadership.