The value of a leader's past

Abstract

Authentic leadership is currently viewed as an appropriate leadership style for business to regain the societal trust which it has lost over recent years due to scandals, exploitation and unethical practices. Despite the importance of authentic leadership in the current business environment, little is known about its development across the life-span of a leader within the emerging market context. The objective of this study is to understand the nature of authentic leadership development within the emerging markets context. The study was exploratory and qualitative in nature and employed a life-story approach to data collection. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior business leaders who have spent at least ten years of their life in an emerging market. All participants were either a CEO, director, executive committee member or board member. The findings from the research are that the trigger events within emerging markets are comprised of positive and negative events and can be categorized into career, personal relationships and adolescent events. The nature of leadership development was found to emerge from a strong support structure, early exposure to certain activities and overcoming hardships through resilience. The emerging markets were also found to contain specific enablers and barriers to authentic leadership development.