Embracing Your Authenticity Changes the Game in Leadership

Growing up, I loved to play basketball and deeply admired my high school varsity team, especially its strong, winning tradition. I remember thinking, I’m going to make the team, though the thought of actually doing so filled me with fear.  

The summer of my sophomore year, I was in the gym shooting hoops by myself when the trainer for the varsity team walked in. I felt so intimidated and out of place. I was very different from the women that made up the team. In those days, women only shot set shots, which was literally “shooting from the hip.” (Oh, the horrible irony.) Like the men I watched play basketball on television, I shot from above my head.  

The trainer walked right up to me and began to show me how to “shoot correctly.” Then, in walked the team’s head coach, who immediately admonished the trainer, telling him, “Don’t do that! Don’t mess with her shot. She has a naturally high release.”  

I’ll always remember the next thing that came out of the coach’s mouth: “I’d like you to try out for the varsity team. Do you want to?”  

Did I want to try out for a winning team with a history of excellence? A team that was cherished and held in high esteem not just by those connected to my school, but also around the conference? A team whose members always seemed like the best of friends, walking the halls together and doing good deeds to help others? Oh, heck yeah!  

I wanted it, but I was terrified. Other than some pickup basketball with my cousins at the YMCA, I had no formal skills or training. How could I have what it takes to be a leader among leaders on that winning varsity team? 

The great Wayne Gretzky once said, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” There’s a pretty good chance that I would have missed almost that many of my shots if I had been forced to “shoot from the hip” like “most women.” Doing so would have meant that I was aiming for the hoop in a way that was not authentic to me. It also would have prevented me from contributing my uniqueness. 

As a leader, you sometimes arrive on the scene and find yourself facing expectations, institutional frameworks, and systems that were shaped long before you arrived. You may encounter others who want to make you fit into their definition of the world, or who are more than willing to offer insights as to the way business should be done, who a leader should be, and how a leader should act.  

We all have individual differences, quirks, and traits – and they are not all bad. Doing things in ways not done before is also not a bad thing either. Embracing your uniqueness is about being able to look at yourself and what you bring to the team as pluses and assets, and not hindrances or things that need to be corrected.  

Leadership can present an opportunity to focus on what our differences are and how they can contribute to our impact on others or a team. When you can fully accept your differences as an integral component of your leadership, you begin to shape a success accompanied by the ultimate form of personal satisfaction: one of living in authentic alignment with the application of your unique abilities and potential. It is then that you can begin to realize the truest, most authentic form of success for your organizations, your communities, and yourself.  

When I joined my high school varsity team, it became quickly apparent that what I felt I lacked in skills, I made up for in passion, determination, and hard work. I was also one of the only girls who shot like the boys, a unique trait that landed me a starting position on the conference championship team my senior year.  

These days, you won’t find me criticizing myself out loud if I don’t do things “correctly” or choose to do them differently, because I’ve become much more fearless about finding my way through new territory. I’ve learned that when we allow ourselves to embrace our differences along the way, magic happens. That magic might be like making a varsity team – in other words, attaining the role within your organization that you’ve always dreamed up – or it could be as simple as inspiring colleagues to also step forward and show their authenticity.  

I feel that we’re each blessed with the God-given ability to bear good fruit, and our differences serve to strengthen our commonalities and common goals. What matters is not just showing up or taking the shots. What matters is that your aim and intention are true to your unique differences, because it truly does take a group of unique individuals to make a stellar team.  

When you step into the room or take a seat at the metaphorical or literal corporate table, choose to show up in your authenticity, seek out people like my former coach—those who believe in finding a valued place for your differences to elevate the collective good—and choose to be a coach for others. 

How will you show up uniquely today? 

Written by Martha Percival Brown.
Have you read?
Best cities in the world.
Largest Economies in the World by GDP (PPP).
Largest Asset Owners In The World.
Best Countries for Work-Life Balance.
Largest Economies in the World by GDP (nominal).