HUMAN RESOURCES Transition to Business By Paul Falcone
Authentic Leadership and Quiet Self-Confidence: Hallmarks of Truly Successful Careers
This issue is dedicated to the “Dog Days of Summer” and the service dogs that keep our nation safe. But let’s look at the origin of the expression: the term “Dog Days of Summer” refers to the period between early July and early September when the hot, sweltering, and often stifling summer weather in the norther hemisphere makes things so uncomfortable that even dogs just lay around, panting from the heat. As such, the expression typically implies a period of stagnation or inactivity. We may find ourselves in the midst of the dog days in this issue calendar-wise, but “stagnation” and “inactivity” have no place in your leadership toolkit if you’re planning on launching a career shift or job change. Here’s why: from the quiet of the dog days comes the energy outburst of the fall, so you’ll want to use this time wisely to build momentum and launch your private sector career campaign accordingly. • Authentic Leadership First, know that mastering the concept of “authentic leadership” is totally within your control, whether you’re in a management position or an individual contributor role. Leaders aren’t limited to those in management: great leaders can often be identified in the early grades of grammar school—the student who volunteers to assist the teacher, the peer who helps another in need,
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the child who seems to care more and be more aware of his or her surroundings and the feelings of others. Put another way, the fastest way to career success is to help others become successful. Authentic leadership states that the greatest leaders aren’t the ones with the most followers: they’re the ones who create the greatest numbers of leaders in turn. And the best part of this news is simply: unlike cognitive intelligence, which is relatively fixed from birth, emotional intelligence can grow exponentially over time, much like a well-honed muscle. Simply focusing on developing and raising your Emotional Quotient (EQ) is typically enough to set the wheels in motion in expanding your level of empathy and otherness, which typically bodes well for leaders in the corporate workplace who are trying to build strong teams, invoke a sense of trust and respect in their peers and subordinates, and reach high levels of performance achievement, both individually and collectively. • Quiet Self-Confidence It’s said that we rise and fall by our self-image. If we have a low opinion of ourselves and expect to fail, our subconscious often tries to deliver that result. Conversely, if we see our success in advance, the universe tends to deliver what our self-image projects.
