Jen Coken

I wasn't invited to speak at that White House Summit. I walked to the microphone anyway...legs shaking, heart pounding...because I knew that if I sat in my chair and said nothing, nobody in that room would ever know the work we were doing. The cost of staying silent was higher than the cost of being seen. That calculation changed everything.

You are doing the work of two people. You're over-preparing for every meeting, over-explaining every decision, and re-earning your credibility every single Tuesday morning. You have the advanced degree, the operational track record, and a bullshit detector set to high. Yet, when the high-visibility projects are handed out or the succession plan is updated, your name is missing from the list. You think you are waiting for a promotion to tell you that you are ready. You are wrong. You do not...

Google “how to be an authentic leader.” Go ahead. I’ll wait. As you can see from my screenshot yesterday, you’ll get more than 132 million hits. 132 million. Let that sink in. 132 million lists, PDFs, frameworks, videos, etc. “10 Ways to Be More Vulnerable.” “37 Traits of Authentic Leadership.” “Be Approachable.” “Lean In.” “Share Your Story.” In less than a second. And I sat there thinking: If authenticity requires 132 million answers, we've already lost the plot. Authenticity is not...