Review: Developing Authentic Leaders by Jennifer Jensen

Providing support for aspiring leaders to be both open-minded and effective, Developing Authentic Leaders: A Practical Guide for All Leaders by Jennifer Jensen is an engaging and effective work of leadership self-help. Written in clear prose and a professional tone, this book is an easy-to-navigate guide, which is both practical and forward-thinking.

Early on, the book makes clear that the journey to becoming an authentic leader is paved with intimate reflection, self-awareness, and genuine personal change. Addressing the challenges that one can encounter at work, she offers communication strategies, tips on how to improve one’s own flexibility, and ways of dealing with stress and hurt, tracing a path of self-improvement that has the potential to lead people not only to professional success, but also to happiness in their lives more generally, making the book uniquely comprehensive.

Instead of relying on stereotypes of the strong, infallible leader and a compliant workforce, the author dives deep into the dynamics of truly healthy leadership, and the book is both pragmatic and inspiring for reaching a series of goals. It is fundamental to find the right balance between strength and vulnerability, self-discipline and motivation, belief in one’s own ideas, and the ability to actively listen to others, which will very likely result in a more productive business.

Jensen stresses that companies often don’t invest enough in their employees, believing that they are economizing when the reality is decreased morale, impoverished productivity, and quick staff turnaround, ultimately leading to decreased profitability. The success of a business is tightly bound to the sense of happiness, fulfillment, and value that co-workers feel, and skillful leadership plays a huge part in this process. Unfolding over 52 main topics, the book provides actionable advice towards achieving this goal, helping the reader to identify their own strengths and weaknesses and integrate the advice accordingly.

Importantly, the book never relies on sentimentality or vague jargon to achieve its aims, as can be the case with other works of self-help. On the contrary, the author’s stringent logic, enhanced by her straightforward prose, is always backed up by data and field observation. With sometimes complex information helpfully organized via bullet points, Jensen manages to give a clear idea of the processes necessary for imparting change, with step-by-step breakdowns of both the practical and the conceptual sides of the journey. Although this format might frustrate the reader who prefers extended prose, it is a brilliant way to make the book highly readable, especially for busy people who might want to find and reread a passage quickly.

As a balance to the more empirical information, the book also includes inspirational quotes, which help put the practical details in clearer context. Additionally, clever exercises at the end of each section help to distill the book’s main points, while urging readers to ask themselves, and others, important questions about workplace satisfaction, driving home the idea that there are more productive ways to employer/employee interaction than the traditional model of hyper-efficiency at the expense of contentment.

Intuitively organized and thoroughly researched, this book is essential reading for those who want to enact profound changes in their professional and personal lives, providing technical insights, humane guidance, and unique methods for improving relationships in any work environment.