A person I found to be the most authentic and transparent in action was Robert Rabbin. This man role models what he teaches about Authenticty and Transparency through how we speak, show up and move in the world.

Robert has assisted many people out of the dialogues about these two qualites, assisting people to feel, know and live it for themselves

Please visit http://www.realtimespeaking.com
You will be pleased you did

Thank you for your insightful thoughts on my “authenticity vs. transparency” front. I like how you’ve taken the initial thought and expanded it. You’ve got me thinking.

Best,
Aaron | @aaronstrout

Authenticity is a different subject. As a systems thinker I believe that each company has a unique system. Where organizations run into trouble is with foolishness like copying and “best practices” that usually lead to waste and/or sub-optimization. Each unique system must find its own way with its own customers, culture, structure, management thinking, work design, etc.

Transparency is a quality of the structure in which we conduct our lives. The degree of transparency measures how much or how little daylight we shine on our activities according to how we’ve designated it to be: from zero (“black box”) to total (“fish bowl”).

Authenticity, on the other hand, is just as you’ve stated: how we humans conduct ourselves, independent of the amount of transparency of the system. One can be completely authentic in a non-transparent system or in a completely transparent system: it’s up to the individual to decide how to operate.

All the aphorisms about “you can know the worth of a person by how they act when no one’s looking” speak to the fact that if you live your life authentically, it doesn’t matter how transparent the system is.

You can (nay, should) strive for authenticity no matter the level of transparency at your company, your network, your family.