Is "authentic" just another faddish term?
This question has just been posed by leadership blogger Dr Ada Gonzalez on LinkedIn and the Logos Noesis Blog. This is a stimulating article (and great picture) and it triggered these thoughts in me ...
I wonder if the current focus on "authenticity' is a strong (and largely positive) reaction to generations of hypocrisy from those who should be providing moral and ethical leadership - parents, teachers, clergy, politicians, managers and business leaders.
People have had more than enough moral superiority and self-righteousness from 'those in charge' and in our hearts we are looking for people who are what they say they are and do what they say they do.
It's tough, though, isn't it - being able to really walk the talk and live up to one's own expectations of self. It may be the toughest part of being human. But it is even tougher when our focus is on other people's failings, although these do provide a handy distraction from facing our own weaknesses!
Children can spot in-authenticity and incongruity a mile off. They use their intuition and 'gut' - aspects of us that can - if we are not careful - become dulled by logic and false hope.
As we seek leaders who can guide us through the next evolutionary phase of capitalism - or its replacement - those who set themselves up in 'authority' in the home, school, workplace and society must pay far greater heed to whether they have 'moral authority' rather than positional authority. We see over and over again how those with moral authority 'attract' while those who use positional power 'repel'. If one wants to attract willing followers one has - after all - to be attractive!
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Much of what seems to account for the loss of real power - which is the honest-to-goodness 'authentic', true desire to help because it will help 'the other', is the ego which comes into its own in positional power in many cases. Not all, but in many cases.
Moral and ethical leadership becomes a willing victim to the trappings of power and the fear of losing 'the' position. And therefore those that will, succumb to more and more erosion of the authentic self and close their eyes to what is happening to that self by allowing a hyprocritical persona to dictate and dominate their thoughts, attitudes and behaviour - because in their eyes, if they do not do that, they might not gain promotion, or they may lose their falsely-perceived position as the 'privileged few’ in the domain of the powers-that-be whose sycophants they have become or are in the process of becoming.
It is true that more and more, society craves leaders in whatever capacity or walk of life - government, community, business, education, social and economic, to name but a few - who have the courage to be the people they espouse to be. It can be tough standing up to what seems to be the prevailing culture and be counted for what we believe in, for what is the 'right' thing to do and yet, that stand enables our integrity and our authenticity to shine through - and that is what draws others to us, people of all ages. Often in an unguarded moment, when someone who is selling their soul to feed the gargantuan appetite of the ego, glimpses their own collusion within a distasteful situation, they will stamp on that reminder to do right and will follow their chosen path to positional power, only to find it hollow and isolated in the extreme – because they have lost an immense amount of trust and human decency on their way up.
And most telling of all, what truly leads to the unravelling of positional power-holders is that whilst it is perfectly clear to those they pretend to lead, these leaders have not taken a moment to view themselves as they are becoming. All they see in the mirror is what they want to see.
There are many good leaders in the world – going about their business. They simply do not claw their way through the power jungle – but what a loss.