Why Authenticity Is Important

I am a big fan of authenticity in leaders.

I think it can be incredibly powerful, it builds trust and rapport with our teams, and our followers.

However, authenticity is only a good thing, if and it’s a big IF,  you are a person of good character, trust worthy and generally nice.

This week we saw the presidential hopeful look to use the authenticity card to defend his racists comments about immigrants coming to America, especially from Mexico. Trump had said of immigrants coming from Mexico that “They’re bringing drugs,”  “They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

Trump then said that he was telling the truth and should be lauded for it, he was being authentic, he was telling us his true opinion, what he believed, and he refused to back down from his position.

Which from an authenticity stand point is good.

However, it does clarify for many that he is an ignorant racists, and not really someone who should be running the country.

He claims he was quoting the figures from a Fusion article, but when you read the article it says no such thing. The article points out that 80% of the women coming in illegally are raped, not that they are thieves, drug smugglers or rapists.

So as well as colouring himself as a racists, he’s also showing that he’s not much good at reading either.

Interestingly his position in the polls has improved, he is now 2nd in the list of republican candidates, his authenticity has resonated well with some people.

However, it has also cost him as Univision and NBC Universal have cut ties with the businessman, refusing to air the “Miss Universe” pageant he partially owns as a result, Macy’s announced Wednesday it was also discontinuing his clothing line, and NBC has sacked him from the show the Apprentice.

To this Trump has said that these companies are weak, that they have caved in to public opinion.

His chances of becoming president,hopefully, should have been seriously damaged with 40% of the electorate being Latino and the majority of them offended by Trumps comments.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and how the Republican Party handle this event. Will they support Trump and alienate the Latino voters, or will they drop him, and if they do how will that resonate with the voters who support Trumps views.

This is why authenticity is important.

It allows us to see people as they really are, how they will act when in positions of power and/or under stress, and it allows us to make the choice to follow them or not, based on the full facts, their true personalities, rather than some media crafted image made to sell us on them.

We all now have a much clearer picture of who Donald Trump really is.

From where I am sitting, it’s not a good look, and it’s not one that is aligned with my values.