ABSTRACT
Robert Cialdini’s principles of influence similarly come up short in terms of authenticity. In the leadership literature, then, authenticity goes beyond mere personal discovery and individual fulfillment. The authentic leader not only knows herself and bases her behaviors on this understanding but also brings authenticity to bear in her relationships with followers. The openness in relations associated with authenticity exceeds what is required by ethics. Rather, authenticity reflects “a more reasonable and realistic concept of self—a self that is connected to friends, family, and community whose welfare may be more important to oneself than one’s own”. Follower well-being may be “an outcome of authenticity” because the authentic leader, by developing followers, “contributes to their well-being”. An appeal to authenticity would turn out to be a roundabout—and, for that reason, a potentially dangerous—way of promoting morality. The best philosophical defense of authenticity in the leadership literature is Jessica Flanigan’s account.
