BMA eBook - Manual / Resource - Page 50
Managing Authenticity
and the other governors in formal language.
He was also careful to rein in his own iconoclastic instincts. He moderated his language,
dressed more formally than was his normal
taste, and publicly emphasized those of his interests (notably museums and science education) that appealed most to the board. In the
end, however, the political machinations of the
BBC overwhelmed even Dyke, and he was
forced to resign.
•••
Authenticity has often been thought of as the
opposite of artifice—something that is
straightforward, sincere, and uncomplicated.
But that conception of authenticity is not only
simplistic, it is also wrongheaded. Managers
who assume that their authenticity stems
from an uncontrolled expression of their inner
selves will never become authentic leaders.
Great leaders understand that their reputation for authenticity needs to be painstakingly
harvard business review • december 2005
earned and carefully managed.
The comic George Burns once said of honesty, “If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
He could equally have been talking about authenticity. Of course, authentic leaders don’t
really fake it to make it, but Burns’s joke resonates precisely because it acknowledges what
we might be reluctant to admit—that the expression of one’s authentic self is a complicated
and contrived act. All authentic leaders are
complicated and contrived. Many Americans
revere the late Ronald Reagan for his authenticity as president—but he was also the first
professional actor to make it to the White
House.
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