How can you be authentic in a way that strengthens your leadership and personal success? Kevin sits down with Jeanne Sparrow to chat about what authenticity truly means, why it matters for leaders, and how you can live it out with courage and confidence. Jeanne explains that being authentic isn't simply about being yourself; it's about knowing yourself deeply, having the bravery to express it, and using it to advance your work and connect with others meaningfully. Kevin and Jeanne explore the relationship between authenticity and confidence, the role of leaders in creating environments where team members feel safe to be themselves, and the transformational power of understanding your value and values.
Listen For
00:00 Introduction: What is authenticity?
02:02 Meet Jeanne Sparrow
03:38 Jeanne’s media career highlights
04:59 How Jeanne’s podcast led to her book
07:09 The “inside knowledge” of broadcasting
08:03 Why this is still a leadership book
08:40 Jeanne’s definition of authenticity
09:46 A powerful example of authenticity at work
12:46 Creating safety for authenticity
13:49 Why "fearless" authenticity matters
16:00 Jeanne’s junior high story
18:00 Her dad’s three truths about authenticity
20:08 The link between identity, value, and service
21:14 What does authenticity sound like?
23:08 Code-switching and being real
24:16 The foundation Live it Tell it Sell it
26:08 Authenticity and confidence
29:18 Clarity as the source of confidence
30:41 Authentic leaders give others permission
31:02 Why authenticity matters at the top
32:17 We don’t have time to be inauthentic
33:34 Jeanne on food, wine, and salsa dancing
33:39 What she’s reading Atomic Habits
35:05 Where to find Jeanne and her book
36:05 Kevin’s final question Now what?
36:45 Wrap-up and next week’s teaser
Jeanne's Story: Jeanne Sparrow is the author of Fearless Authenticity: Lead Better, Sell More, and Speak Sensationally. She is a multi-hyphenate communicator. Her extensive repertoire includes hosting her own daily morning TV talk show for seven years, co-hosting daily radio shows with media giants Steve Harvey, George Wallace, and Doug Banks, and interviewing hundreds of Hollywood heavyweights. She now hosts a weekly radio show on V103, the top-ranked iHeart Radio station in Chicago, and hosts the “Fearless Authenticity with Jeanne Sparrow” podcast on the iHeart Podcast Network. She appears regularly on top-rated Chicago TV stations as a fill-in host and guest. She’s a long-time voiceover artist, doing hundreds of commercials for national brands, and an actor in commercials and on broadcast television, including Fox’s “Empire,” and NBC’s “Chicago Med, and Magnum P.I.” Jeanne has spoken to and consulted for many nonprofit organizations and corporations including: AES, Women in Insurance Leadership, AT&T, Guaranteed Rate, Ravinia, iHeartRadio, and Governors State University. She’s a respected faculty member at Northwestern University, teaching at the graduate level in the School of Communication
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Flexible Leadership is every leader’s guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos.
Book Recommendations
- Fearless Authenticity: Lead Better, Sell More, and Speak Sensationally by Jeanne Sparrow
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
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