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Reed Hastings: The Only Leadership Quality That Matters Is Authenticity. Most CEOs Fake It.

By Reed Hastings · Leadership · 1 min read

You've got no hope if you try to pretend to be Reed Hastings or Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. People are inspired by authenticity. I'm just surprised how many people feel like they're acting.

Key Points

You have to be authentic — there's no hope if you try to pretend to be some other CEO
People are inspired by authenticity. Many leaders feel like they're acting — or try to act.
If you care about what's good for the company and act on it, people will follow. When you hide things, you lose trust.

You've got no hope if you try to pretend to be Reed Hastings or Mark Zuckerberg. People are inspired by authenticity.

Be Authentic

Hastings: You have to be authentic. You've got no hope if you try to pretend to be Reed Hastings or Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. That is crazy. You've got to really get comfortable with yourself — your strengths, weaknesses.

People are inspired by authenticity. I'm just surprised how many people feel like they're acting, or try to act. You may be a really quiet person and that's fine.

You've got no hope pretending to be someone else. People are inspired by authenticity.

Fierce Will, Secondary Role

Hastings: If you have that fierce will — that desire for the company to be great, and your own role in that is secondary — and you authentically express that in whatever ways you do, then you'll be greatly accepted.

Fundamentally care at your core about what's good for the company. If everybody knows that, and you act on what's good as best as your judgment can tell — people will follow you. They won't be cynical.

If your desire is for the company to be great and your own role is secondary — people follow.

When You Hide Things, You Lose Trust

Hastings: It's when you hide things. It's when you pretend. That's when you lose trust very quickly.

When you hide things, when you pretend — you lose trust very quickly.