Leadership Academic or Practitioner? My problem with categories

Ever since my fascination with leadership begun I knew that I wanted to both study and experience it. My mother was my first boss. When I started working in our family business in Austria at the age of 18, I watched her in her roles as entrepreneur, manager, photographer, competitor, trainer of apprentices, coach, book keeper and single mom of two kids. I studied her interactions with apprentices, employees, customers, suppliers, rivals, and bank managers. I worked with her 7 days a week, 51 weeks a year for 6 years and never ceased to be captivated figuring out what leadership means. Right now, I am finishing up my PhD in Economics with a focus on leadership and organizational development. I also look back at several interesting assignments in my role as leadership trainer, coach and consultant to small, medium and large organizations in Europe and the USA. The only way I can make sense of theory is through experience; my rule of thumb is that what I study must add value to real people in real organizations. To me, leadership happens in action and is understood in theory - a beautiful combination. It’s simply who I am - but not always without regrets.  

People like categories, so I am the “scientist” or the “practitioner”. Why not both?

In my dissertation I deal with the way people categorize others and how this plays out in their behaviors. I learn that it is normal and natural to process new information by trying to find known categories to put it in. So, I am not really surprised that in one half of my world – the practitioner’s world of other trainers, OD consultants and HR professionals - I am considered the “academic”, the “scientist” the “rationalist”. In the other half of my world – the PhD candidate’s world of professors, students and reviewers – I am the “practitioner”, the “consultant” and the “professional”. People with rigid stereotypes consider me too academic, others too practical; it helps them make sense of me. While I am sure that I might be a little or too much academic or practical at times: being stuck in a category simply is uncomfortable to me. But what can I do?

Let’s consult the literature for some guidance. Research tells us that prototypes become more comprehensive and inclusive with a person’s experience with a certain type. For example, inexperienced leaders can have stricter ideas about the traits of an ‘ideal employee’ than more experienced leaders who have come across a larger variety of great employees. Experiencing someone means to talk to them, work with them, understand their approach and way of thinking. It also means to see commonalities with them and maybe change our minds about old prototypes.

The solution: my adaptation to different contexts

The fact that rigid stereotypes can be softened by experiencing a larger variety of certain types is no consolation but at least an explanation. I learned that I cannot rely on others to change their cognitive processes or even prevent them from having prototypical expectations towards leadership academics or practitioners. It is me who has to learn how to adapt to the different environments of academics and practitioners by communicating what’s relevant to them instead of insisting what is important to me. (And hope it will change their stereotype towards me a little.)

A very smart management professor and consultant once told me that in the field of management consulting, theory shows that “we have thought about it” and I couldn’t agree more. My passion is learning about leadership and seeing it in action – it always has been and always will be. Now that I have found a way to approach the two worlds of ‘eithers’ and ‘ors’, I feel a little bit more comfortable.

Cultures and Authenticity. Who am I, really?

Back in the old days, when I used to be the Austrian Andrea, life was simple. I was born into an Austrian family; I grew up the Austrian way. I was 100% Austrian. I lived and breathed Austrian values, mindsets and attitudes. My religious, political and cultural views were strongly influenced by who I came to be in the setting that I grew up in. Had you asked me then, I would have said that I was a true, a real Austrian. An authentic Austrian, maybe.

Then I lived in Germany for a bit and married a German man. Despite the cultural differences between the Austrians and the Germans, we share a similar mindset about the most important questions in life. However, my ‘Austrianness’ softened up and I became a little bit German, too. Then, we lived in the UK for several years and I acquired a chunk of the British culture. So, my already confused ‘Austrianness’ got mixed up with a totally different way of living. Again, I became a little less Austrian. To top it all off, now we have been living in the USA for a number of years, and apart from being even less Austrian, I have two American children. They have three passports; they understand two languages and speak English better than I ever will. How Austrian, or German, or American will they be? And, what bothers me more: how Austrian am I still?

Does culture impact the Self?

Whenever I talk about Authentic Leadership I use the terms ‘true self’, ‘core self’, or ‘identity’. These are crucial terms in the discussion because they summarize the sets of values that make a person. There is lots of literature on identity theory, and it’s fascinating to think about one’s own identity and how it came into existence. Contrary to my previous beliefs (I am one and the same no matter where I live and what I do) I’m starting to see how much of an influence my environment has on me. Back in the USA from a one-month vacation in Europe I realized that, as much as I love Austria, I’m no Austrian anymore. I still embrace many of the Austrian values: the importance of enjoying the little pleasures of everyday life, the genuine friendliness and the relaxed search for perfection. But there are others that I don’t share anymore (the aversion to uncertainty, the sluggish adaptation to modern life, a lack of speed). This means that I have become sensitive to those Austrian values that are less desirable to me, simply because I have been adapting to other cultures over a period of time. I am still me, but what I think and do has been strongly changed by the different environments I live in.

Even in terms of simple every-day behaviors, I can see that I have become a hybrid. For example, I believe that “Cash is King” (Austrian) yet I pay exclusively by credit card (American). I like an elegantly served glass of beer (Austrian) yet I liked the pints of lager in English pubs even more (British). I think it's right to have speed control on motor ways (Austrian) but I usually go crazy on the German autobahn with 180 km/h (German). I much prefer an inner-city shopping trip to strip malls (Austrian) yet I enjoy thankfully the free parking at the Mall (American). I make a point of walking to do errands as much as possible (Austrian/German) yet I adore drive-through banks and coffee houses (American). The list of examples is endless.

Ten years of adaptation to different countries, people and every day habits and behaviors have shown their impact. I might be the same Andrea in some ways that I was before, but in many ways my values have changed and with them my attitudes and behaviors. I learned that right can be wrong, and the other way round.

Can I maintain a sense of Authenticity?

It’s important to understand one’s own Authenticity, because then we can learn about Authentic Leadership. What I know so far is that the development of one’s own authenticity is a process, one whose ending we will not even live to see. Does that mean that there is no authentic Self because for it, there has to be a set of certain values somewhere within us? -  In other words and applied to my own example: did the changing environments do my authenticity more harm than good because it destroyed my fixed value system?

I believe the opposite it true. I think that the “Andrea the hybrid” understands her own Self much better than Andrea the Austrian.  Why? Because it is being tested through regular contact with contrasting cultural values and this process acts like a sieve: only the really important values remain on the surface.

Bottom line is: a heightened sensitivity to the impact of our environments on our own Self helps enormously to figure out Who we are and Who we want – or don’t want – to be. My future research will therefore be directed at the impact of cultures (geographical as well as organizational) on Authentic Leadership. Let's see what I find....

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