Discussion Questions and Exercises

  1. What are the benefits of softening the boundaries between leaders and followers, as George’s model suggests? Any drawbacks?
  2. Can you give an example of a trigger event that might ignite positive psychological capabilities and moral reasoning? How is this the same as or different from environmental influences in the Mumford Skills Model?
  3. Balanced processing is a self-regulatory behavior. How would a leader know if she were doing balanced processing? How does balanced processing fit with passion and vision?
  4. Relational transparency is a self-regulatory behavior. How much of one’s negative qualities should a leader expose to others? What is an “appropriate manner” of sharing core feelings, motives, and inclinations?
  5. How do the practical and theoretical approaches to AL differ? Are they really describing the same type of leadership?
  6. If authentic leadership is really a lifelong process, can teenagers be authentic leaders?
  7. What is the underlying process through which moral values affect other components of authentic leadership?
  8. Is a self-report the best way to measure a leader’s authenticity?
  9. Distinguish between lower- and higher-levels of moral reasoning.
  10. How can moral reasoning be taught?
  11. How can authentic leadership be enacted on a virtual team?
  12. How can the four key positive attributes predispose or enhance a leader’s capacity to develop self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, or relational transparency?
  13. How might the four key positive attributes NOT contribute to a person’s leadership ability? In other words, what effect could they have on a non-leader?
  14. What is an authentic leader responsible for?
  15. How might the characteristics of the Millennial generation lead them to embrace or reject authentic leadership?
  16. According to recent research, what effects does authentic leadership have on followers?