Throughout our profession we stand aside and we reflect on our lives and our careers. Often, we mold ourselves to fit the setting we seek to work in and while this can be positive and productive for self-growth and professional learning, there are certain aspects of ourselves we should not have to and should not be willing to adapt and change simply to fit into the setting we seek to work in, as we covet authenticity. There are many tenets of leadership growth and development this chapter will present, central to being authentic leaders. There is a plethora of literature relating to the concept, theory, and practice of authenticity in leadership spanning the last century; but this chapter will focus, primarily, on authenticity in educational leadership. This chapter will review the concept of leadership authenticity for school leaders with a focus on leaders' culture, community, and internal core values as a core ingredient to their professional leadership style, philosophy, and management style.
TopIntroduction
In a rapidly changing world, individuals from diverse backgrounds find themselves grappling with the complex interplay of identity, culture, community, and leadership. For Latinx people who often struggle to find their place without standing out, maintaining their cultural roots while evolving, and striking a balance between service to others and personal fulfillment, authenticity becomes a key guiding principle. Authenticity empowers Latinx individuals to serve as genuine leaders who can uplift their communities and provide mirrors for those seeking inspiration and guidance. This essay delves into the multifaceted journey of Latinx individuals in the pursuit of authenticity, examining how they navigate the intricate terrain of identity and leadership in an ever-evolving society. Hearing the voices and feedback from participants in a study that was conducted through pláticas and journaling over the course of three months is instrumental in the purpose of this chapter as steered by the study of ten graduate school graduates who identify as Latinx.
This chapter will first provide an explanation of how Latinx was defined, and who the participants are and why this all matters in the big picture of things. Then an overview of authenticity will be shared and why authenticity is so critical for Latinx leaders and under represented minorities as supported by the responses of study participants.
Method: Pláticas
The incorporation of “pláticas” in research with a focus on the Hispanic community originated from scholars recognizing the limitations of conventional research methods, particularly ethnographies and surveys, when applied to Hispanic participants (Beccerra and Shaw, 1984). Pláticas, therefore, are not new. This instead is a way of life for many of us. Oral traditions and passing information on from one generation to the other through storytelling is not new but rather a tradition. Therefore, the Latinx/Hispanic narrative has faced limitations through more traditional data collection. In response to these limitations, Ramón Valle and Lydia Mendoza advocated for the utilization of “la plática” as a culturally more appropriate approach to engage with the Latinx population (Valle and Mendoza, 1978). Described as a “friendly, intimate, and mutualistic manner” of dialogue, la plática provides a culturally resonant alternative to traditional interview research methodologies (Valle and Mendoza, 1978, p. 33).
Growing up in a traditional Hispanic family, it was always important to listen to the stories told to one another by elders and community. I have lost much of own family history because I failed to do just that and record the pláticas and narratives shared by those who lived through these experiences. Therefore, today, when our quantitative statistics often fail to report the shortcomings otherwise known as limitations of their studies, because there are either too few or no respondents to represent a certain demographic, qualitative researchers such as myself try to fill a void in the existing research by digging deeper and looking to collect stories, narratives, and/or engage in plática with those who have the information we seek.
Participants
The participants in this study were predominantly women 9 female participants and 1 male. The participants were recent graduates of the local university educational leadership program. The participants attended a Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI), but report few to none of their co-hort members identifying as Latinx. The program itself was recently resuscitated and at the time of this study was seven years in. The participant names will not be shared as the study yielded to few participants and because they all remain actively employed, we will instead share their experiences and amplify their responses that resulted in a need for authentic leadership in today’s schools.