Being an authentic leader means reactivating the connection between our intellectual and our social/emotional selves. Rather than seeing emotions as a weakness, Audaciously Grounded leaders see emotions as another source of guidance and a necessary element of working with people, whether co-workers or community members.

“We can do important hard things together with joy… If it’s not an inclusive workplace there’s going to be a joy deficit.” Jennifer Ho

Audaciously Grounded leaders intentionally make time to maintain their mental, physical, and emotional health to sustain their leadership. This requires them to establish self-care routines and set boundaries that reflect their ethics and values. Self-care sustains their ability to engage wholeheartedly in the work.

“It’s important to model what you want to see, or to create a system where people understand who you are by your practices. You have to be courageous in how you're leading no matter what the consequences are.” Wokie Weah

Becoming our most impactful selves means granting ourselves permission to stop being apologetic or worried about how bringing our authenticity might shock or surprise others.Audaciously Grounded resist pressure to conform and assimilate and acknowledge this is not easy. Impostor syndrome and other maladies of dominator culture generate false pressures to work harder than other leaders to prove their worth. 

“You can't truly be in authentic leadership until you truly understand who you are…not just your past journey but also understanding the history of your family and how you came here.” John Choi

Impactful leadership requires serving as a thoughtful translator to those who don’t feel they have access to power. Audaciously Grounded leaders use their power and positions to help BIPOC communities access benefits that dominant institutions regularly or historically have hoarded. Audaciously Grounded leaders widen the circle of people who can benefit from public and privatized resources.

“I talked them through every question. I looked at edits on their drafts and helped them rethink how they were going to frame it up because we would put the applications in front of a community review panel… When they got the grant, they called, and were like, ‘That was my first general operating grant. No one had ever invested like this, and no funder had ever helped us.’” Alfonso Wenker

Give yourself time to familiarize yourself with the system and assess who to trust. You don’t have to be open or vulnerable 100% of the time. Audaciously Grounded leaders are very aware of the history of exploitation and abuse of BIPOC people and communities and know that they have a right to be wary of people. They try to strike a balance between being open and maintaining boundaries until they trust others’ motivations and values are clear. 

“I realized that I did not stand up for him or support him like an ally. I was too focused on trying to keep the peace, and also wanted him to succeed at his job so I didn’t want him or I to raise issues and ‘rock the boat.’ I was imposing my assimilation strategies on him. I was afraid to speak up but he wasn’t… About a year later, I felt an immense sense of shame and guilt for my actions and reached out to him to apologize. We were both in tears.” Tricia Montalvo Timm

When you’re leading courageously, every win is the result of a series of hard-fought failures. Audaciously Grounded leaders know that sometimes you will be uncomfortable, sometimes you will lose battles, and you need to lean into the discomfort and learn from losses to figure out what to do and how to grow.

“My introspection sometimes puts me at a disadvantage so when something happens like, there was a screaming match in a leadership meeting, and I didn't end it when I should have ended it.” Suzette Harvey

What is expected of leaders, how they behave, and how they relate to others has for so long been defined by the experiences of white male leaders. Audaciously Grounded leaders bring life experiences, cultural models, and ancestor wisdom that provide alternative ways of defining, understanding, and interacting as a leader. 

“We had a lot of different leaders when they were needed. For example, in our Chippewa Ojibwe leaders, when we needed the leaders for ‘when is it time to gather the wild rice’ we get the old guys who knew when the rice was ripe, not too early or not too late… They just knew when it was time. That guy happened to be the leader at that time…” John Poupart

Becoming our most impactful selves means tapping into our most authentic leadership. Being clear about purpose and values is core to the success of Audaciously Grounded leaders. Purpose serves as a guiding star to staying authentic and making choices that align with our values. 

“I'm a baby boomer. I'm a product of the civil rights era and was born during the Emmett Till murder in Mississippi. I was heavily influenced by the Black Panther Party and the creation of the American Indian Movement in the Twin Cities. All those events impacted me because I knew, I had a sense– very early on– that everything that I did, the thing that motivated me, was to make positive change.” Donald Eubanks

Many BIPOC folks are alienated from from their home culture, either due to pressures to assimilate to dominant culture, forced disconnection or severance from their homeland, or being isolated in PWIs during childhood or early in their careers. Audaciously Grounded leaders’ stories remind us that there is no one path to incorporating heritage and culture into leadership styles: leadership is learned in different ways, including how to reclaim our cultural heritage as a strength.  

“For me, my leadership is about being awake. And there’s so many issues that oftentimes I would like to be asleep. The purpose of mindfulness is not to make you sleepy, but so you are mindful of the social injustice happening around you. I am practicing staying awake.” Alika Galloway