Adam Werbach has done a great amount for the worlds of social responsibility, environmentalism, and environmental sustainability. Especially for being so young, his career has provided inspiration for many individuals who strive to make Earth a more level-playing field and friendly place for all of its inhabitants. Adam also provides a great example of an authentic leader, which is at the very basis of why he does what he does.
The article (linked below) states, “Adam Werbach is not only a staple of the environmental movement, but an authentic innovator and one of environmentalism's most honest critics. At twenty-three, he was elected president of the Sierra Club. He is now head of Act Now Productions and sits on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Werbach’s most recent endeavor is Ironweed Films, a DVD club and social networking site for the socially and politically progressive.” These credentials and experiences are impressive for an executive or environmentalist of any age. He displays the types of traits that Luthans & Avolio associate with authentic leaders and their subsequent success in business settings. These four capacities being confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience; Adam’s career has conveyed to the world that he is well versed in all of the above. In the article, he conveys his confidence in the organizations and individuals currently in-line with his own efforts, “I’ve been impressed by the evolution of campus and online activism. I’ve also been pleased to see that organizations like the Sierra Club have been getting back to their community organizing roots.” His whole vision of “shifting social values” is predicated on his hope for our species and his resilience in fighting against the grain of an irresponsible Corporate America. The whole effort has an air of optimism in trying to create a better world for generations to come.
Leadership: Theory and Practice contends that moral reasoning is a crucial aspect of developing authentic leadership and defines it as follows: “It is the capacity to make ethical decisions about issues of right and wrong or good and bad.” Adam Werbach clearly is polishing this capacity and putting it into play by actively working against the forces of society that he has deemed wrong, while working for the vision that could craft the world to being more “good”.
Authentic Leadership is a process that takes experience and time to develop in an individual the capacity to act and be received as genuine or authentic. Adam Werbach is in the first chapters of what will surely be a long story of developing authentic leadership, and he is making the world a more responsible and sustainable place with the journey.
-Kyle Hines
The article is linked below:
It is definitely refreshing to see someone so young take an active role and effective role in promoting sustainability and sustainable practices. The way that Adam has created a community through his Ironweed Films has allowed people to act and participate in his vision. For these reasons I believe that he is a great example of many of Kouzes and Posner's practices if exemplary leadership. He effectively models the way by being so proactive in his promotion for sustainable practices and his young age and resilience have inspired people to take notice and support the sustainability cause. Additionally, by being active and holding such responsibility at such a young age,he is challenging the status quo. As previously stated, his innovative Ironweed Film club has enabled others to organize and collaborate in a community dedicated to progressing social and political causes.
ReplyDelete-Sean Morton
I agree that the role Adam has taken on is very impressive, especially at that age. I would like to believe that Adam and I, being the same age, have social and ethical values that represent the majority of our generation. The big scandals obviously influenced not only him as a person but also Adam's leadership style in general. He also comes off as not just an authentic leader but maybe somewhat of a transformational leader as well. He seems very charismatic and it's clear he has personality characteristics that lead him not just to have good values but to act on them, and to try to influence others to act similarly.
ReplyDeletePosted by Samantha Wilson
Kyle,
ReplyDeleteAccording to Northouse, one of the strengths of authentic leadership is the ability to learn how to be an authentic leader. Northouse also explains that the positive psychological capacities you've used in your analysis is trait-like and that they characterize a relatively fixed aspect of someone's personality.
What gives?
One of the criticisms of the theory is that these components is that it is questionable whether these should be included in the components of authentic leadership. I agree with the authors.
Due to this lack of correlation between these components and authentic leadership, is there any other way to convince me that Werbach is an authentic leader?
Posted By: Michael Condupa