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Authentic Leadership

By Ken Shelton

(Originally published in Executive Excellence Magazine)

The authentic leader is an author of ideas, actions, styles, traditions, speeches and possibly even books.

Most leaders think of themselves as authentic; however, few think of themselves, first and foremost, as authors. Some, in fact, have written very little for external publication, or even internal distribution. Other executives have written and published widely.

The point to be made here relates not to how much or how little you write but rather to why, what and how you write. The issue of executive authorship is important not merely for the potential of getting one's name in print but for the immense payoff in authenticity and authority.

An author is one who produces, creates or brings something into being and then causes it to grow and increase; the author is the originator, the first mover and shaker of anything, one who composes or writes. Authorship, then, is often prerequisite to clear identity and great achievement.

Authenticity is making the self an instrument, having the genuine article, the original model, the legitimate authority—as opposed to that which is false, fictitious and counterfeit. It is being what you purport to be, trustworthy, reliable, credible, faithful. Authentic leaders are authors of ideas and actions. And in the process of authoring, they more clearly separate what is unique and original to them.

Authority is the power or right to act, author and make final decisions. Such power may be delegated or it may be derived from opinion, perception, respect, esteem or influence of character or office.

Most authority in any executive position is derived from the influence of character, from the state of authorship and the status of authenticity.

The counterfeit is authoritarian: characterized by unquestioned obedience to authority rather than individual freedom of judgment and action.

The Executive Author

Having worked with several executives as a writer, editor, publisher, and now literary agent, I find many to be dynamic, visionary, proactive. All have something to say, although many prefer mediums other than print for their expression. But for one reason or another, little of real merit ever gets published; executives settle for short, clipped statements (often misquoted or out of context) in media, minutes and other records.

I worked four years in a major aerospace corporation and came away without any meaningful remembrance of the CEO. In fact, after ten years, I can't remember anything of substance the man said. Basically, all his communication was functional and sterile. By contrast, I worked four years at a major university and came away with a wealth of meaning from the speeches and writings of the president.

As an executive, you have a need:

· to find your own voice. Don't use a ghostwriter or "collaborator" who brings all the substance and style. Speech writers and other assistants should take more than a cue from you—they should get the essence, if not the full text, out of you from interviews.

· to express yourself in writing in cohesive message units. The irony is that in a day and age of voice-activated recording, voice-to-print transformation, electronic editing and spell checking, word processing and laser printing, we find it no easier to say something worthwhile. You need to finish some things; otherwise, all you leave behind are fragments.

· to increase your ability to think and write clearly. If you fail to express your feelings and insights appropriately and regularly, in speech and writing, you forfeit influence. Your ability to express yourself will fade, as will your ability to feel and think deeply. So record your insights and feelings, especially as they relate to mission, vision, people, performance, and direction.

· to establish your identity as an author. You may not have a personal need, but you have a professional need. Your leadership authority is linked to your identity as an author. So write your own script. Revise it, refine it, to be sure. But above all, finish it. Publish it. Distribute it. Get feedback on it.

· to separate your thoughts and writings from those of others. Always recognize and attribute sources properly. Acknowledge and reward collaborators, contributors and counselors. Credit your sources in all forms of communication, casual and formal. If you use other people's material as your own, you run the risk of delusion (thinking the material actually is your own), alienation (from your own thinking and from the true sources) and compromise of integrity.

How to Become an Author

As a young journalist, one of my first assignments was to write a feature story on university professor and management consultant Walter Gong. I interviewed him and other sources and composed an article on this remarkable man. To check the accuracy of some statements, I showed him a draft.

"I think you have captured the content well," he said, "but what creative value have you added? Your duty as author is to expand on what you receive and present it in the context of your own thinking and style."

The second draft was vastly improved.

To become an author is to add creative value, to become authentic and to earn real authority.

· Get rid of all the rational lies as to why you can't ever write anything. Believe in yourself. Have faith. Faith and works yield fruit.

· Appoint someone on staff to assist in capturing, transcribing, editing and publishing your material. Leverage your time. In your line of duty, there is virtually nothing more important than publishing your vision and values, principles and life experiences.

· Find or create a suitable medium in print or audio/video format. Create in the medium and format that are most comfortable and natural to you. Learn to adapt to other formats. This often requires some coaching, constructive and objective feedback and capable editing.

· Schedule creative periods and submission deadlines. Organize thoughts around these times. Schedule submissions. Be accountable to someone for meeting deadlines.

· Develop a system or process for capturing your insights and other important communication; then organizing; then storing and filing; then publishing.

· Keep a journal—otherwise much will slip through the cracks. In the movie Paint Your Wagon, the most profitable mining was being done under the floorboards of the salon where gold dust was falling through the cracks. A lot of "gold dust" or great ideas and expressions will fall through the floorboards unless they are captured and kept safely in a journal.

Obviously, some things are more important than other things. Executives should be most concerned about authoring the following items: 1) statements of mission, values, principles, beliefs, purposes; 2) speeches, articles, statements, on significant issues of management and leadership; 3) new products, programs, processes, systems, structure, styles; 4) children, protégés, successors, empowered managers; 5) dreams, visions, directions, preparations.

Benefits of Authorship

Being an author brings many side benefits to you and your organization.

· Identity. If you're not an author or an original, then you're probably an actor or imposter, imitator or plagiarist. Publishing your own material and ideas helps you and your organization to gain identity and position—to be seen and known as original sources.

· Philosophy. Moral philosophers are needed as much today as they were at the time of our founding as a nation. Even if you are rich in profitability, you cheat your organization if you are poor in philosophy.

· Authenticity. You can gain a sense of true identity and legitimacy and integrity because of heightened awareness of who you are and what you believe in and stand for.

· Authority. Real authority comes from authorship. The formula is: authorship (A1) + authenticity (A2) = authority (A3). Much of your potential management authority lies outside the confines of your office and position. It must be earned through authorship and authenticity.

Legacy. You leave something behind in the "icy permanence of print" to be remembered by. On this point, imagine that you meet an untimely death in the near future and that a few of the faithful seek to build in your honor a memorial, patterned after the Lincoln memorial, complete with two of your most significant writings etched in stone. What have you left them? What do they have to work with?

Authorship encourages real innovation, not cheap imitation. You become a personality with a perspective. You become, in the process, a more genuine, authentic leader.

Comments to: editor@leadingtoday.org

About the author:

Ken Shelton is chairman and editor-in-chief of Executive Excellence Publishing, dedicated to publishing the best and latest thinking on personal and organizational development. He is also the author of several books including Beyond Counterfeit Leadership. You can find out more about Executive Excellence Publishing at this link. You can also get a free trial subscription for Executive Leadership Magazine here.