Discover your leadership way through self-awareness, values alignment, and deliberate practice. Learn to develop an authentic approach that inspires others.
Written by Laura Bouttell • Tue 30th December 2025
The leadership way refers to the personal philosophy, approach, and practices through which you influence and inspire others—and discovering your authentic leadership way begins with understanding yourself, clarifying your values, and deliberately developing the capabilities that align with who you are. There is no single correct way to lead; the most effective leaders find approaches that leverage their strengths whilst genuinely serving those they lead.
This search for your leadership way matters because authenticity resonates whilst imitation falls flat. As Harvard research confirms: "There is no one 'best' way to be a leader. Each individual—as well as their teams, organisations, and companies—requires a customised approach." The leader who tries to copy someone else's style invariably seems inauthentic; the leader who leads from their genuine self creates connection.
Finding your leadership way isn't a one-time discovery but an ongoing journey of self-awareness, experimentation, and refinement. Your approach will evolve as you develop, as contexts change, and as you learn what truly works. This exploration provides the framework for that journey.
The leadership way encompasses your personal philosophy, preferred methods, and characteristic behaviours as a leader. It's how you show up, make decisions, communicate, and influence others—the distinctive approach that makes your leadership recognisably yours.
Your leadership way includes several interconnected elements:
Understanding your values is the first step to becoming a leader. When you know what matters to you and your core values, you can use those beliefs to guide you in making decisions and taking action.
A clear leadership way:
| Element | Question to Answer | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Values | What principles guide me? | Decisions become clearer |
| Strengths | What do I do well? | Leverage natural capabilities |
| Communication | How do I best connect? | Build genuine relationships |
| Decision style | How do I think through choices? | Create consistent approach |
| Development focus | How do I grow others? | Multiply leadership impact |
Discovery requires honest self-examination, external feedback, and deliberate experimentation.
Being an effective leader starts with knowing yourself. Through honest reflection and self-assessment—using tools like personality assessments or similar resources—you can gain a deeper understanding of your strengths and weaknesses and build greater self-awareness.
Questions for Self-Reflection:
One of the first steps in developing a leadership style that works for you is understanding your personality type. Understanding your personality type can help you identify your natural leadership style and determine areas where you may need to adapt or improve.
Personality Dimensions to Consider:
Detailed feedback is one easy way to know your leadership style. Asking those you lead to provide open and honest feedback is a helpful exercise. Doing so allows you to adapt your style's characteristics within your day-to-day responsibilities as a leader.
Feedback Questions to Ask:
Regardless of personal style, certain principles underpin effective leadership approaches.
Be authentic. Trying to perfect a leadership style that's in opposition to your personality or morals will come across as inauthentic. Try to choose a leadership style that's in alignment with your strengths and work to improve it.
Authenticity means:
The leadership way at its best prioritises those being led over the leader's ego or advancement:
Whilst authenticity matters, rigid adherence to one approach regardless of context limits effectiveness:
You may find your leadership style does not get the results you hoped for, or that there are better ways to achieve the ends you desire. In these cases, it is critical that you can reflect on your personal leadership style and adjust aspects of yourself accordingly.
The leadership way is never finished—it evolves through:
Moving from discovery to development requires deliberate practice and continuous refinement.
Before developing, understand where you start. Examine:
Define what you want your leadership to look like:
Identify specific development areas:
Test out styles over short periods of time. Observe how workplace morale, relationships, and productivity shift with each approach. Seek mentorship or guidance from a trusted peer or another leader you admire.
Development Activities:
It's normal for your personality and experience to influence your leadership style. While there isn't one right way to lead, identifying your leadership style can help you grow your skill set and empower your team.
Build ongoing refinement habits:
Understanding established leadership styles provides frameworks for developing your own approach.
Transformational leaders inspire change through vision, inspiration, and personal attention to followers' development. This style emphasises:
Best for: Situations requiring significant change, building new teams, inspiring discretionary effort
Servant leaders prioritise others' needs and development above their own interests. This style emphasises:
Best for: Building trust, developing people, creating sustainable cultures
Authentic leaders lead from their genuine selves, with transparency about values and limitations. This style emphasises:
Best for: Building trust, creating psychological safety, sustaining energy over time
Adaptive leaders flexibly adjust their approach based on situation requirements. This style emphasises:
Best for: Complex environments, diverse teams, changing situations
| Style | Primary Focus | Development Emphasis |
|---|---|---|
| Transformational | Vision and inspiration | Change leadership |
| Servant | Others' needs and growth | People development |
| Authentic | Genuine self-expression | Self-awareness |
| Adaptive | Contextual flexibility | Situational reading |
The leadership way manifests in daily practices and decisions, not just grand moments.
Begin each day with clarity about how you'll lead:
Your leadership way shows in how you communicate:
The leadership way crystallises in decisions:
The leadership way includes how you develop others:
End days with honest self-assessment:
The journey toward authentic leadership encounters predictable obstacles.
Organisations may expect certain leadership styles. Navigating this requires:
Natural strengths can become weaknesses when overused:
Growth requires discomfort. Resist the temptation to:
Authenticity doesn't mean refusing to adapt:
The leadership way is your personal philosophy, approach, and practices for influencing and inspiring others. It encompasses your values foundation, personality expression, communication style, decision approach, and relationship orientation. Your leadership way is authentically yours—shaped by who you are rather than imitation of others—and evolves through self-awareness, feedback, and deliberate development.
Find your leadership style through self-reflection (examining values, strengths, and natural tendencies), personality assessment (understanding how your temperament shapes your approach), feedback gathering (learning how others experience your leadership), and experimentation (testing different approaches to see what works). The process is ongoing—your style will evolve as you develop and as contexts change.
No—there is no single "best" leadership style. Effective leadership depends on context, including the situation, the people involved, and the outcomes required. Different styles suit different circumstances. The best approach is developing authentic capability across multiple dimensions, then applying the right emphasis for each situation whilst remaining true to your core values.
Develop leadership skills through self-awareness work (understanding your current approach), targeted development (addressing specific gaps), deliberate practice (trying new approaches in real situations), mentorship (learning from experienced leaders), feedback integration (adjusting based on others' input), and reflection (systematically learning from experience). Development is ongoing, not a one-time achievement.
Yes—whilst your core values and personality form a stable foundation, your leadership style can develop significantly. You can learn new capabilities, expand your range, and adapt your approach based on what you learn works. The key is distinguishing between authentic development (growing into more of who you can be) and inauthentic performance (pretending to be someone you're not).
Values provide the foundation for leadership style by guiding decisions, priorities, and behaviours. When you're clear about your values, complex choices become clearer. Values determine what you will and won't do regardless of pressure. They create consistency that builds trust. Clarifying and committing to your values is often the most important step in developing your leadership way.
If your style isn't producing desired results, gather specific feedback to understand what's not working, examine whether the issue is style mismatch with context or execution problems, consider whether you need to adapt your approach or develop new capabilities, and be willing to adjust whilst maintaining your core authenticity. Sometimes the same style needs different expression in different contexts.
The leadership way isn't something you copy from a book or borrow from an admired leader. It's something you discover within yourself, develop through practice, and refine across your career. Your leadership way emerges from who you genuinely are—your values, your strengths, your experiences, your growth.
This doesn't mean your way is fixed. The leadership way evolves as you develop, as you face new challenges, as you learn what truly works. The leader you are today should be more developed than the leader you were five years ago—and less developed than the leader you'll become five years hence.
What remains constant is authenticity. The most effective leaders lead from their genuine selves, not from performed personas or copied styles. They know their values and honour them. They leverage their strengths whilst developing their weaknesses. They adapt to contexts without losing their essential character.
Finding your leadership way is a journey without final destination. Each experience teaches something about what works for you, what serves those you lead, and what your unique contribution can be. The goal isn't arriving at a fixed style but developing the self-awareness and capability to lead authentically and effectively wherever your journey takes you.