The Authentic Leader’s Role In Organizational Resilience And Citizenship

Like most leadership coaches, I begin each client session with a check-in, inquiring how things have been since our last meeting. It’s a way to clear the mind and allow us to begin focusing on our coaching work. Recently, a client told me about her boss. She was remarking that although work has been incredibly stressful and uncertain lately, he has been a source of calm in the storm. She said his confident, open demeanor has allowed her to worry less and think more strategically about how she can better serve her team and, frankly, help her company thrive during this difficult time.

She has spoken about her boss before, describing his authentic leadership style. However, what she unknowingly recounted that day was how his approach fosters resilience and the desire for her to behave like a good organizational citizen…

The Biggest Psychological Experiment in History Is Running Now

The impact of ­COVID-19 on the physical health of the world’s citizens is extraordinary. By mid-May there were upward of four million cases spread across more than 180 countries. The pandemic’s effect on mental health could be even more far-reaching. At one point roughly one third of the planet’s population was under orders to stay home. That means 2.6 billion people–more than were alive during World War II–were experiencing the emotional and financial reverberations of this new coronavirus. “[The lockdown] is arguably the largest psychological experiment ever conducted,” wrote health psychologist Elke Van Hoof of Free University of Brussels-VUB in Belgium. The results of this unwitting experiment are only beginning to be calculated…