The Authentic Leader: Five Essential Traits of Effective, Inspiring Leaders

By Merinda Smith

If you’ve ever had the privilege of working or being on a team with an inspiring, authentic leader, you know how electrifying it can be. But a truly authentic leader is hard to come by. The business world needs more of these game-changing, inspiring leaders… maybe someone like you.
According to leadership coach and business leader Merinda Smith, authentic leadership is a trait any of us can acquire through careful cultivation and management of a few key traits. In The Authentic Leader, an audio course from Scribd Coach, Smith explains exactly what an authentic leader is and how we can all become authentic leaders by gaining and sharpening a few key characteristics: emotional intelligence, self-motivation, courage, accountability, and balance. She also shares exercises along the way so you can begin cultivating these skills right away.
You already have it in you to become the leader you want to see in the world. The Authentic Leader has what it takes to help you tap into that authenticity and lead your organization into the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribd Coach
• Release date: Nov 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094432748

Merinda Smith

Merinda Smith is a certified leadership coach who places integrity, authenticity, and making a difference at the center of her coaching. Smith has coached hundreds of clients and had success in her own business ventures. In her spare time, she enjoys horse riding, scuba diving, and creating on a sewing machine or with colour and paints. To learn more about Merinda and her coaching services, visit her website, merindasmith.com.au.

Book preview

The Authentic Leader

The Authentic Leader

Five Essential Traits of Effective, Inspiring Leaders

Merinda Smith

SCRIBD COACH

Copyright © 2021 by Merinda Smith

All rights reserved

ISBN: 9781094432748

First e-book edition: November 2021

Scribd, Inc.

San Francisco, California

Scribd.com

For more, visit www.scribd.com and follow @Scribd on Twitter and Facebook.

About Scribd Coach

This ebook is brought to you by Scribd Coach, a new imprint from Scribd dedicated to short-form, inclusive, and insightful personal and professional growth courses written by recognized experts.

Each Scribd Coach course is available in audiobook format or as an ebook transcribed from the audio course — like the book you’re about to read. If you’re interested in the audio edition of this course, or if you’d like to read more personal growth content from Scribd Coach, check out the Scribd Coach imprint page. 

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Introduction

Hello there! Thank you for joining me. My name is Merinda Smith, and this is The Authentic Leader, a course from Scribd Coach.

Leaders are all around us, in every area of our lives. There are leaders in the home, the sports field, and online. The workplace, in particular, is full of leaders — supervisors, project leaders, senior leaders. Think about the leaders in your workplace, or at the companies you’re familiar with. How many of them would you say are authentic leaders?

If you’ve ever had the privilege of working or being on a team with an inspiring, authentic leader, you know just how electrifying it can be. Under authentic leadership, team members will do whatever they can to achieve a goal. They’re excited to go to work and come up with ways to help their teammates achieve shared goals.

Authentic leaders are hardly universal. In a major study on workplace stress, 35% of the 2,000 workers surveyed said that their boss was a major source of stress at work. The result of this stress is a staggering impact on the bottom line