Authenticity
“Something can be rejected competently only by the one who is at the same time able to defend it perfectly. And something can be advocated competently only by the one who is able to reject it perfectly.” – Andras Laszlo.
Truth is that we don’t need to be authentic to be successful in business; business is dominated overwhelmingly by mechanical processes where authenticity has no place: we buy what works for others, we implement what’s proven (by others), we run things the way everybody else has learned to run things: we go by the numbers.
In the mechanical 90% part nobody is (allowed to be!) authentic.
Then there is that 10% where authenticity makes all the difference. It’s about questioning the fundamentals and the conventional; it’s about giving answers to the toughest questions. Not finding! Giving. Creating; not relying exclusively on the comfortable, lulling support of facts or evidence; having the courage to go all the way, and back: creating and representing the context for those who are busy with the 90% !
Without this effort nobody is authentic!
Without authenticity people in leadership roles are, unwittingly or otherwise, pretentious; they are forced to spend most of their time dealing with the resulting mess.
In true leadership roles with impact, more time must be dedicated to this 10% than to the 90%.
About the image: we choose this one as a true expression of authenticity, where individualism is transcended as opposed to being destroyed. Namely, a supra-individual position is necessary to challenge the fundamentals in any system.