Introduction
A Clarion Call to Emerging Leaders

Crises are hitting us from all directions. It is increasingly clear we need an infusion of strong, new leaders to help us navigate safely.

-David Gergen, Hearts Touched with Fire

The first two decades of the 21st century have careened from one crisis to the next. It started with the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, followed by the bankruptcies of Enron and WorldCom, and many other unethical firms and the 2008 global financial meltdown. The second decade featured the demise of General Electric (GE), Boeing's mishandling of the 737 MAX crashes, the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd's murder, the devastation of climate change, and, most recently, Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

At their core, these tragic events can all be traced to failed leadership.

The Emerging Leader Edition of True North is not an analysis of these crises or the leaders who caused them. Rather, this is a calling to you as emerging leaders of the next generations-Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z-to step up and lead authentically by discovering your True North and following your North Star to make this world a better place.

In this book, we feature numerous stories of emerging leaders who are already making a difference, like Kabir Barday, Abby Falik, Tracy Britt Cool, and Rye Barcott, along with pioneers from the Baby Boomer generation, like Indra Nooyi, Ken Frazier, Mary Barra, Satya Nadella, Ursula Burns, John Donahoe, and Chip Bergh.

We are confident your cohort of emerging leaders will create a better world. We wrote this book to enable you to realize your full potential as an authentic leader who has a positive impact on others through your life and work. This book will challenge you to reflect on your leadership, your humanity, your values, and your purpose in life.

Wherever you live, whatever you do, this is your calling:

Make a positive impact on the world as an authentic leader:
Discover your True North, and follow your North Star.

Your True North and North Star

Your True North is the moral compass that guides your actions, derived from your most deeply held beliefs, your values, and the principles you lead by. It is your internal compass, unique to you, that represents who you are at your deepest level.

Just as a compass points toward a magnetic pole, your True North points toward your North Star. Your North Star is the purpose that you pursue to make this world better for everyone.

When you discover your True North, you know yourself at the deepest level and can be authentic. When you have found your North Star, you are ready to pursue your purpose as your calling. This inner journey of knowing yourself is a prerequisite to the great outer journey of leading others. We challenge you to make this journey, both achieving your full potential and having a lasting positive impact on society.

The hardest person you will ever have to lead is yourself.

Many people do not know who they are. They are so focused on trying to impress others that they let the world shape them rather than shaping themselves into the kind of leaders they want to be. When you follow your True North, your leadership will be authentic and people will naturally want to associate with you.

As philosopher William James wrote a century ago,

The best way to define a man's character is to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which he felt himself most deeply and intensely alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which says, "This is the real me!"

Can you recall a time when you felt most intensely alive and could say with confidence, "This is the real me"? I had that feeling from the first time I walked into Medtronic and joined a group of talented people dedicated to the mission to "alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life." I felt I could be myself and be appreciated for who I was and what I could contribute. I sensed immediately that my values aligned with the organization's values.

Whether you are leading a small team or a large organization, you will inevitably face pressure from external forces that challenge your values or attempt to seduce you with rewards. These pressures and seductions may pull you away from your True North. When you get too far off course, your moral compass tells you something is wrong. That's when you need to reorient yourself, which requires resolve to resist the constant pressures and expectations confronting you. As you are tested in the world, you yearn to look in the mirror and respect the person you see and the life you are leading.

This is not to say that authentic leaders are perfect. Far from it. All leaders have weaknesses, make mistakes, and are subject to human frailties. By acknowledging their shortcomings and admitting their errors, the humanity and vulnerability of authentic leaders comes through, and they connect with and inspire others to reach their full potential.

The End of Command-and-Control

In the 20th century, business schools instructed managers to build competencies such as leadership style and communication skills. Some authors took these ideas to the extreme, writing nonsense such as "strike a power pose when presenting" or "fake it until you make it." What the competency-based models missed is the importance of character. While your title makes you a manager, your character makes you a leader.

Most Baby Boomers accepted the rules of hierarchy, waiting their turn for senior leadership positions. They valued a company's financial stability, and their net worth grew as the postwar American economy soared. This era was particularly hard for professional women, since they often faced higher standards with little flexibility or acknowledgment of their lives outside the workplace.

In business, the 1980s and 1990s were typified by Jack Welch, the mastermind who made GE the most valuable company in the world and the epitome of 20th-century leadership. Jack was passionate, competitive, financially driven, and highly successful. He spawned countless imitators who sought to copy his style. Search firms aggressively recruited GE managers to transform organizations, although many GE alumni who became chief executive officers (CEOs) ultimately failed.

When I was CEO of Medtronic, I felt at odds with many of my fellow CEOs who seemed to be more interested in their stock price and the amount of money they were making. As I concluded my term as CEO in 2001, I felt the predominant model of leadership was deeply flawed, as the media primarily judged leaders based on their charisma, leadership style, stock price, and compensation packages.

In 2008, public trust of business leaders fell to a 50-year low following the global financial collapse. The harm the financial community caused for so many woke us up to the need to rethink capitalism-not just as a vehicle to make financiers wealthy but also as a way to create value for all stakeholders.

These crises taught emerging leaders lessons on what not to do. They watched as those in control chased money, fame, and power instead of serving others. They learned the perils of putting self-interest ahead of the best interests of the institutions they led.

Authenticity: The Gold Standard for Leaders

When I wrote Authentic Leadership in 2003, I was surprised how often people asked, "What do you mean by authenticity?" In that era of charismatic leaders, many people were fearful of being themselves. The reality is that no one can be authentic by trying to be like someone else. You can learn from others' experiences, but you cannot be successful trying to be like them. People will trust you only when you are genuine and authentic.

The crises of the early 21st century led to a rethinking of leadership. By 2015, the Harvard Business Review heralded, "Authenticity has become the gold standard for today's leaders." Now the hierarchical, directive leadership style so prevalent in the past century has been replaced by empowerment, collaboration, and authenticity. The old notion of leaders being the smartest guys in the room, as typified by Enron CEO Jeff Skilling, has been superseded by leaders with high levels of self-awareness and emotional intelligence, such as Microsoft's Satya Nadella.

No longer is leadership about developing charisma, emulating other leaders, looking good externally, and acting in your self-interest. Nor should you conflate leading with your leadership style, managerial skills, or competencies. These capabilities are but the outward manifestation of who you are. If you create a false persona or hide behind a mask, people will quickly see through you.

Authentic leaders are true to themselves and their beliefs. They engender trust and develop genuine connections, which enables them to motivate people to achieve high levels of performance. Rather than letting the expectations of others guide them, they are their own person and go their own way. As servant leaders, they are more concerned about helping others succeed than about their own success or recognition.

The rise of authentic leadership coincides with the arrival of emerging leaders. Gen X (born 1965-1980), Millennials (born 1981-1996), and Gen Z (born 1997-2012) expect different things from work and have different...