Learning to value our “real” self and cultivate our strengths is easier said than done, especially in a world that constantly sends us messages that our natural self is inadequate. Yes, I know that marketers of hair products, clothing and diet programs are not thinking about their impact on leadership in the workplace, but that doesn’t mean that their advertising haven’t challenged the ways we value our personal traits, including those we bring into the workplace.

Peter Vaill, author of “Managing as a Performing Art,” reminds us that “treating leadership as a list of functions or skills doesn’t match up with real life.” He writes: “In daily life no one experiences her job as a list of functions or competencies. Leadership is a matter of a whole person in a whole environment interacting in concrete ways with other whole persons.”

Continue reading this article at The Huffington Post.