The rise or fall of authentic leadership

The fragility of organisations, institutions, and society has been exposed by the context of the COVID 19 pandemic. This has necessitated the demand for new leadership that will drive to improve and develop institutions and enterprises. This paper examines authentic leadership, highlighting the complexity and problematic nature of the construct. The rise and the acceptance of this construct are explored as well as its inability to advance beyond the current conceptualisation. Though, the importance of this leadership approach has been affirmed by scholars; with positive organisational outcomes linked to this leadership approach. Scholars are yet to chart the path that provides a second chance for leaders; that is enabling inauthentic leaders to become authentic and be perceived as such by their followers. This paper contributes to the literature on authentic leadership theory by proposing the authentic leadership plumb line and its role in the resurgence of authentic leadership within organisations. This paper concludes that authentic leadership should be adopted within organisations during crises as it facilitates the alignment of the leader-follower interaction.