Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, and Peterson (2008) identified and validated four components to describe authentic leadership: self awareness, which refers to understanding not only their own strengths and limitations, but how they affect others; balanced processing, which involves analyzing all relevant information objectively before coming to a decision; relational transparency, which refers to openly sharing the authentic self, their true thoughts and feelings to followers; and internalized moral perspective, which refers to self-regulation guided by internal moral standards and values.