The Honest Leader
A place to ask the big questions about honesty, authenticity and the challenges of leadership
“ the question of choosing deception or honesty is not one of ethics, but of wellbeing and the integrity of our social fabric. Each time someone chooses to lie, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential, a thread unravels. No big reveal that deception has occurred is necessary, no treachery named, no betrayal felt, no punishment to the deceiver doled out – it is the act itself that harms.”
Read more at https://psyche.co/ideas/be-honest-little-white-lies-are-more-harmful-than-you-think
The Big Wigs Were Never a Disguise: What Dolly Parton Got Right About Authentic Leadership
Dolly Parton spent her whole career leaning into artifice — the wigs, the rhinestones, the surgery. So why did she feel more "real" than almost anyone in public life?
It wasn't that she felt free to "be herself." That kind of freedom is usually a privilege of money, fame, and power. Plenty of leaders have it and still come across as fake.
Dolly's authenticity came from somewhere else: an almost total absence of the gap most of us carry between how we see ourselves and how we're afraid others see us.