Being an effective manager requires that you behave authentically. "Why?" you might ask. "Maybe the 'real me' isn't the most effective boss, but if I can just act the way an effective boss should act and get good results, what's wrong with that?"
In my experience, two things are wrong with that, and they both amount to the same thing: It almost certainly won't work. First, it won't work because, sooner or later, the people who work for you and with you will see through it. Even if your leadership and your instructions are sensible and productive people will feel uncomfortable with someone who doesn't really mean what he or she says.
Second, trying to act like a different kind of person than you really are won't work because you yourself will not be able to keep it up day after day, year after year. Your words and your body language as well as your actions and decisions will reveal that you are not what you present yourself to be and people will be more and more reluctant to trust you as a leader. In both ways, then, "authenticity" is as much a practical virtue as an ethical one. You simply won't be able to lead effectively if people perceive you as disingenuous.
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