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Since writing the original version of this fieldbook, we have had the privilege of working with over 10,000 individuals on their journey to becoming more authentic leaders. Our experience has ranged from teaching the Authentic Leadership Development MBA course at Harvard Business School to running custom True North programs with senior executives with global responsibilities.

In the process, we have learned a great deal about how people discover and implement their True North. Having worked with many of these individuals over an extended period of time, we have come to understand their long-term journey and what it takes to stay the course.

As Bill said in the Preface of the first edition:

“Leadership matters. It matters a great deal – to our organizations and institutions, to the people who work in them, and to the people who are served by them. For our society to function effectively, we need authentic leaders who can encourage people to perform at their best and step up and lead themselves.”

“I wrote True North because I have a passion to see more people in all walks of life lead authentically and because I wanted to help people like you discover your authentic leadership.”

In conjunction with Discover Your True North, we have amassed our insights and learning to create a significantly updated guide to assist you on your journey to authentic leadership. As you navigate the unchartered territory of the twenty-first century, we hope our fieldbook assists you in becoming a highly effective – and authentic – leader, one who follows your True North and stays the course!

Why This Book Is For You

One of our greatest learnings since writing the first edition is that everyone can lead. When you call a help desk and your issue isn't in the dropdown menu for the person on the other end, they have a choice in that moment to lead or not. We all know how it feels when they do and when they don't.

In our view, any time you face a decision that impacts others, you are leading. Thus, whether you are a student, parent, bus driver, army officer, CEO, grandparent, or citizen of the world, we all have the opportunity to step up and lead.

We wrote this workbook based on the assumption that we are all on a journey to become more authentic leaders. This book is for those who wish to deepen their connection to the magic of who they are so that when they have the opportunity to lead, they will be more likely to step up, lead effectively, and live a meaningful life.

Discovering Your Authentic Leadership

Becoming an authentic leader is hard work. The process is not much different from becoming a world-class musician or a successful athlete. To become great at anything, you must leverage the unique strengths you were born with, while acknowledging and learning from your shortcomings.

In Bill's case, he had to work very hard to become a leader, enduring disappointing defeats and rejections in high school and early college years. As General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt describes it, Bill had to make the “leadership journey into [his] own soul” in order to find out who he was, where his real passions lie, and how he could become more effective as a leader. He didn't have a fieldbook like this one to help him, so he made up a plan as he went along. With the help of his wife Penny, close friends, and some important mentors along the way, Bill not only grew and flourished, but he also captured hard-won lessons along the way. Lessons we share with you here.

After searching for a role model for many years, Bill learned that he could never become a great leader by emulating someone else or by minimizing his shortcomings. As “Director of the Year” Reatha Clark King says, “If you're aiming to be like somebody else, you're being a copycat because you think that's what people want you to do. You'll never be a star with that kind of thinking. But you might be a star – unreplicable – by following your passion.”

Many books offer quick fixes or seven easy steps to leadership. Unfortunately, development doesn't work that way. To realize your potential as a leader, you need a systematic plan to support your growth. That's the goal of The Discover Your True North Fieldbook: to offer a clear and detailed path to guide your development.

We encourage you to take on as many leadership experiences early in life as you can. Don't sit back and wait for them to come to you. Seek them out! After each experience, process them by returning to your development plan, make necessary changes, and reengage with a clearer sense of your True North. This is a lifelong process. Start now.

As you embark on this journey, consider these fundamental truths:

● You can discover your authentic leadership right now.

● You do not have to be born with the characteristics or traits of a leader.

● You do not have to wait for a tap on your shoulder.

● You do not have to be at the top of your organization.

● You can step up to lead at any point in your life: You're never too young – or too old.

● Leadership is a choice, not a title.

Using This Fieldbook

This fieldbook offers you a series of exercises encouraging you to delve deep into your life story, discover your passions, and develop into an authentic leader. First, you will explore your life story and its relationship to your leadership. Then, you will examine the leadership experiences you have had thus far in your life, including both challenges and disappointments. To keep you from losing your way, we'll also highlight several common patterns that might distract you from realizing your True North.

After a broad review of your life story, we'll ask you to unpack significant crucibles, those searing moments that seem to hold great meaning. By mining your life stories and exploring your crucibles, you begin to uncover unique patterns that help to define who you are, your authentic self.

Next, you will go to work on five key elements of development: self-awareness, values and principles, motivations and sweet spots, support teams, and how to lead an integrated life.

In the final section, we'll ask you to experience what it feels like to make the fundamental shift from “I” to “We,” craft a leadership purpose statement, and understand the importance of empowering others in a global context. After completing this work, you'll be ready to create your own Personal Leadership Development Plan (PLDP). This is a dynamic document that you can return to in future years to assess your progress, make any necessary updates, and use as a lifelong guide to remain oriented toward your True North.

Should I Work With Others While Using This Guide?

Your responses to the exercises and your notes in this fieldbook are personal. However, we do encourage you to share them with trusted others, including mentors, coaches, and members of your support team. Their feedback will be invaluable as you work to develop your PLDP.

As you share your personal story and insights with others, we encourage you to take some risks; experiment with being a bit more vulnerable than perhaps you might ordinarily be. We've found that sharing your story can be incredibly liberating and in fact deepen ties with those you trust.

There are several ways you might use this fieldbook:

1. As an individual, you can complete these exercises and draft your PLDP on your own.

2. You can work through this fieldbook with a group with friends or even new acquaintances. Everyone should complete the exercises individually, and then discuss the insights openly with other members of the group. Then it can be helpful to go back to the exercises and update them, based on others' feedback.

Your group can be led by a professional facilitator who guides your discussion and keeps the group on track. Or you can create a peer-facilitated group, in which leadership of the group rotates to a different member for each session. Bill pioneered this approach with six-person Leadership Development Groups (LDGs) in the Authentic Leadership Development course at Harvard Business School.

3. To enhance your learning, you can also use The Discover Your True North Fieldbook in conjunction with a personal coach or mentor. Experienced partners can help deepen your learning, provide feedback, and add an additional layer of insights and discipline to the process.

4. You can also use this fieldbook with your team at work. As team leader, you can guide your group through the process yourself or enlist a professional team-building consultant or facilitator to enhance the process.

5. You can use this guide along with the text Discover Your True North as the basis for a course on leader development, either in an academic setting or in an organization. This material is flexible enough to support leaders at all stages in their careers: young leaders, including college and graduate students; midcareer leaders; leaders at the top of their organizations; and even very experienced leaders perhaps embarking on the third phase of their journeys after having completed their principal leadership roles.

In the case of a larger group, you may need a professor, teacher, or leadership development professional to help structure the material and lead the group. Nick has spent much of his time working with organizations doing just that with great success. Many others have used this book as the backbone for college, MBA, and executive courses on leadership.

A Final Word to Users of This Fieldbook

As you embark on this journey of self-discovery, let us offer our personal welcome. We encourage you to be as open and honest as possible when completing these exercises. The more truthful and vulnerable you are, the greater the impact of this work. Have the courage to explore your life deeply, to understand who you are as a magnificent human being, to discover where you really fit in this world, how you can use your leadership to impact others in a positive way, and to leave a lasting legacy that you'll be proud of.

We have witnessed deep and lasting transformation in leaders who have taken this journey as they shaped their twenty-first century authentic organizations and institutions. Whether they were leading in business, government, education, or religion, they discovered that the journey was not only about becoming more authentic themselves, but about empowering everyone they touch to become authentic leaders as well.

Your dedication to discovering your True North will make this world a better and richer place for us all.

April 2015

Welcome,

Bill

Nick

Scott