ABSTRACT
Leaders sincerely care about those they lead at a personal level and are committed to developing a positive relationship with them. This type of human focus can be best described as attending to issues of the heart, a practice particularly essential to the practice of transformative leadership. Examining the evolution of the understanding of how being an authentic leader is understood they identified four central components to the construct—self-awareness, balanced processing, relational transparency, and an internalized moral perspective. Authentic leaders are truly transparent in their leadership practice. Researchers on authentic leadership would likely argue that the practice of reflection could substantially alter the day to day experience of principals as it would facilitate the development and maintenance of authenticity. Through a strong coaching relationship, principals are able to examine their instructional leadership practice holistically through the support of a confidential coaching relationship with an individual with expertise and experience in the role of school leader.
