Measuring Leaders’ Authenticity Through Their Speeches

Authentic leadership (AL) became a popular topic between 2001 and 2003 in the aftermath of declines in ethical and moral leadership witnessed through a string of corporate fraud and corruption scandals, which included corporations such as Enron, Adelphia, Global Crossing, Qwest, Tyco, and WorldCom.

Over a decade later, and contrary to what many would have expected, the situation remains ugly. Unethical practices are rampant and the lack of trust is pervasive. We have been witnessing the ‘three Ds of leadership’ – distrust, doubt and dissent. These are the outcomes when leaders fail to respond effectively to both the changing context in which they must lead, and the expectations of their stakeholders.

Organisational misconduct, deception, cheating and many other forms of unethical behaviour are among the greatest challenges faced by society today. Lack of trust and ethical leadership were identified as the greatest problems faced by organisations and the legacy of ‘bad leadership’.

Lack of trust is a serious threat to the bottom line. CEOs need to grasp the causes of low trust and implement strategies to rebuild it. It is an issue that can no longer be ignored (20th CEO Survey by PwC, 2017).

AL is so popular that it has about 18 different definitions and there are at least six different self-reporting questionnaires that claim to measure it.

1. The Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) (Walumbwa, et al., 2008).
2. The Authentic Leadership Inventory (ALI) (Neider & Schriesheim, 2011).
3. The Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) (Steffens, et al., 2014).
4. The Leader Authenticity Scale (LAS) (Henderson & Hoy, 1983).
5. The Authenticity Inventory – version 3 (AI:3) (Kernis & Goldman, 2006).
6. The Authentic Leadership Scale (ALS) (Gerber, 2006).

But, of course, self-reporting questionnaires are problematic due to a number of biases. Above all, self-serving bias – the tendency to perceive oneself in an overly favourable manner. Think about it, which leader would openly admit to being inauthentic? 

Advances in Computer-assisted Text Analysis are changing the rules of the game.  

The Psychological and Social and Meaning of Words

Language is the basic currency of social interactions and the most reliable way for individuals to express their thoughts, feelings, motives, intentions and concerns to others in a clear and unambiguous way. The words we use in our daily life reflect who we are (our identities) and the social relationships we have (our affiliations). Language constitutes the psychology of communication and is a powerful way to understand people.

Computerised Text Analysis

Technological advancements made in computer sciences and computational linguistics during the last decade have produced a new generation of text analysis software. This has revolutionised how researchers can link everyday language to real-world behaviours (Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010).

The most objective, candid and direct way to explore how language is linked to the characteristics of speakers is to look for particular themes in their speech. Computer algorithms can automatically search through large texts.

A Study of Global Political and Religious Leaders’ Authenticity 

The goal of this study was to ascertain the differences of authenticity of eight global political leaders and two spiritual leaders by comparing their speech transcripts.

1. Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria;
2. Emmanuel Macron, President of France;
3. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany;
4. Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom;
5. Vladimir Putin, Russian President;
6. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada;
7. Donald Trump, U.S. President;
8. Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia;
9. Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome and leader Catholic Church; and\
10. Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.

What are your hypotheses?

Who do you think is most authentic, Angela Merkel or Theresa May? Or perhaps Justin Trudeau?

Who is a more authentic? Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin? Or perhaps Bashar al-Assad?

Who is more authentic? Pope Francis or the Dalai Lama? Or perhaps Emmanuel Macron?

Who is at the top and who is at the bottom of the list? Perhaps Malcolm Turnbull at the top? If so, who is at the bottom?

To find out, join me at the coming International Leadership Association’s 20th Anniversary Global Conference, ‘Authentic Leadership for Progress, Peace & Prosperity’, 24-27 October in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA (registrations are now open).

Two of the keynote speakers will be Barbara Kellerman – Harvard Kennedy School, and Donna Ladkin – Professor of Leadership and Ethics, Antioch University.

At the conference, I will present the results of four studies:

1. A Comparative Analysis of Global Political and Religious Leaders’ Authenticity.
2. A Comparative Analysis of the Most Prominent Global Business Leaders’ Authenticity.
3. A Comparative Analysis of Australian Political Leaders’ Authenticity.
4. A Comparative Analysis of the Most Prominent Australian Business Leaders’ Authenticity.

* Reprints of this work will not be available until after the Conference. 

I look forward to seeing you there!

? Sebastian Salicru

Sebastian Salicru is a leadership development expert, executive coach, facilitator, speaker and author of Leadership Results: How to Create Adaptive Leaders and High-performing Organisations for an Uncertain World (Wiley, 2017).