Vi har netop oprettet en ny praktikstilling i 2013 i forbindelse med udgivelse af "The Authentic Company" i udlandet:

Få et stærkt internationalt netværk i forlagsbranchen
Har du læst marketing, kommunikation og sprog, og har du lyst til at være i kontakt med oversættere og internationale business-forlag? Vær med til at drive den internationale udgivelse af Nikolaj Stagis bog “Den autentiske virksomhed” i England, USA, Tyskland og Norden.
Prøv dine teoretiske færdigheder af i praksis i et praktikforløb, som fokuserer på opbygning af netværk i forlagsbranchen.

Dine opgaver vil bl.a. omfatte følgende:

• Research om udenlandske forlag samt kontakt til dem
• Deltagelse i research og udviklingen af den engelske version af bogen
• Udvikling af præsentations- og pressemateriale
• Skrive tekster til website og blog samt sociale medier
• Udvikling af PR-aktiviteter i forbindelse med udgivelsen
• Evt. planlægning af begivenheder vedr. lancering

At Autisme Center Vestsjælland (ACV) I experienced the transformation in the group of the 35 leaders at a workshop, which purpose was to make ACV more authentic - a workshop where the outcome was very much an eye opener for the participating leaders. As one of the participants pointed out:

”In the past two years where I have been an employee at Autisme Center Vestsjælland, this is the leader meeting where I have got the very best sense of my colleagues.”

The purpose of the workshop served not only as a strategic tool to help the leaders in finding the organizations authentic identity, it also had a side effect: The employees got a better understanding of each other.

Autisme Center Vestsjælland

As a public organization, ACV works to give children and adults with autism the best offer on the market, and works to create good lives for residents and students, as well as providing security for parents and relatives to the users. But a big company in expansion with a flat management structure also faces some challenges when it comes to finding strengths, potentials and future basis for growth. The purpose of the workshop was to assist the 35 leaders of ACV in finding authentic strengths in the organization and to define the organizational authentic identity. To be authentic, you must be true to yourself both as an individual and as an organization. Of course, that is easier said than done.

When the waves went high

After a good one hour presentation from Nikolaj Stagis the following workshop led towards smaller group discussions. The room was full of good energy, and I very much felt a great deal of motivation among the leaders to get to the bottom of challenges within the organization by discussing the three dimensions of the authenticity – evidently finding a common ground. Briefly, the three dimensions are: The historical (an organization’s heritage, historical characteristics and original purpose), the reflexive (an organization’s opinions, vision and actions), and the expressive (an organization’s communication, expression, proximity and passion).

Overall, the outcome of the workshop was an eye opener for the participating leaders whose vision of the organization changed during the workshop. ACV left the workshop with a strong sense and idea about in which direction the organization should evolve.

As one leader pointed out:

“The workshop has given me a great insight into where each of us stands, and I am definitely looking forward to continue working with the tools that you (Nikolaj) have given us.”

It all started with a book - The authentic company

ACV’s motivation and need for a workshop about the authentic company stems from many years of organizational changes and expansion. A need for the right set of tools to identify the strengths and potentials within the organization became evident for ACV, and the book The authentic company was discovered by one of ACV’s leaders at a presentation in 2012. “Lederne” held a country wide round of presentations focusing on leader’s ability to be authentic, and the leader from ACV became very motivated by the presentation and ended up buying the book The authentic company - and her excitement spread to the rest of the leaders at ACV, where an additional 50 copies of the book were ordered.

ACV has planned a six-month strategy process with workshops and meetings based on The authentic company and Stagis’ methods. And with ACV’s strong history and articulated visions and actions for the future, we are excited to witness how ACV will flourish and evolve to become an authentic company.

It is 2013, and thereby the 200th birthday of Kierkegaard the world famous Danish philosopher. But what could a 19th century philosopher, discussing the fear and trembling of old testament Abraham possibly say about leadership, authenticity and organization today?

In a sense Kierkegaard tries to understand the authentic leader, and likewise at Stagis we try to understand and advice authentic leaders creating an authentic business organization. Leaders of tomorrow cannot risk falling back into a managerial role of controlling employees and business according to fixed rules, by not understanding the drive towards authentic goods and services. Thus, Kierkegaard might after all have a thing or two, to say about leadership.

Kierkegaard had a desire for understanding passionate characters that takes risks to go beyond the ethical or the mainstream. In his key work Fear and Trembling (1843) Kierkegaard studies Abraham, the father who feels he has to sacrifice his first-born son on the command of god.  Abraham cannot explain to his wife or anybody else why he has to do this. What kind of god would demand to kill ones first-born child?

Likewise, the passionate entrepreneur taking radical steps to break with the mainstream of the market can also have difficulties explaining his project. When Steve Jobs founded Apple in 1976, he was about to change the competitive factors and eventually the entire paradigm of the market. But at the time no one really understood what was going on. And almost certainly not even Jobs himself.

“If anyone on the verge of action should judge himself according to the outcome, he would never begin. Even though the result may gladden the whole world, that cannot help the hero; for he knows the result only when the whole thing is over, and that is not how he became a hero, but by virtue of the fact that he began.” Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, 1843.

When Rene Redzepi created Noma as the first New Nordic Kitchen restaurant, he was ridiculed as an unsophisticated hick, trying to stir up media attention with the cook Claus Meyer. After all, why would anybody go back to use old nordic ingredients and recipes when you have French and Italian culinary traditions and rules?  At the outset, Rene Redzepi could not make his project intelligible to him or anybody else; he just felt it was right. Paradoxically, by both riskin his own identity and being absolutely true to it, Redzepi made himself an authentic culinary hero rising above the ethical.

Nonetheless, the authentic business entrepreneur is quite vulnerable. Going beyond the mainstream, or the ethical rules and judicial framework of a market, can be anxiety provoking. Having no existing norms or rules to rely on; creating an entirely new business model can feel like having 70.000 fathoms of water beneath oneself. So, how did Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg or any other of the successful entrepreneurs who had never learned the jargon and rules of the business school, manage to create an authentic business organization out of nothing?

In Kierkegaard’s words, the authentic leader is making the move from the ethical onto the religious. Because the authentic leader is not building his organization around (ethical) business school rules, which are applicable to all corporations like a McKinsey consultant. Rather authenticity is about founding the organization on inner strengths and deliberate leadership actions to go beyond the mainstream.

Moreover, the authentic company, are also better crisis survivors as they are not competing by the same competitive factors of price and quantity as the mainstream market, but has become super premium brands. OKI Printing Solutions had difficulties differentiating their printers from the rest of the market in terms of price and quantity like speed of printing. Thus, Stagis helped OKI making a radical move above the ethical, to become sellers of OKI Identity, rather than printers. And importantly, this also resonated with  their history, as they introduces radical different printers to the market earlier in their company history.

Authentic companies are thus not only able to find a corporate identity with links to their history and actions, but can also express this when authentic leaders dare to challenge the ethical. At Stagis authentic leadership is thus not about putting the past to rest, because “...why bother remembering a past that cannot be made into a present?” ― Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, 1843

Over the past few months the largest bank in Denmark, Danske Bank, has been deploying a new strategy which involves cutting 2.000 jobs and closing some 75 - 100 branch offices. Today the CEO, Eivind Kolding, claims that the bank wants to "build trust". A statement that seems rather difficult at a point in time where most customers experience severe increases in financial expenses, and can expect a lower level of service in a near future. 

The reviewer, business commentator Henrik Jørgensen, had his doubts when he first heard of authenticity as a concept for improving the business of a company. However, after reading ”The Authentic Company”, he acknowledges the topic and the book as a useful tool to highlight internal strenghts in the company – and to use these strenghts to actively create value and growth.

He especially notices that the book delivers on the question of "how?" a company can use its internal strenghts to grow and develop a unique competitive power and Henrik Jørgensen recalls the focus on core competencies from the nineties (which I also mention in the book). He also comments the way the book tackles this by using a spectrum of historical, reflexive and expressive authenticity and how these different varieties of autheticity helps the reader to appreciate the constant journey a company neccesarily must be on to discover its authenticity.

I recently visited Henrik at Børsen for an interview about the book and the topic of authenticity. The interview is available on borsen.dk (in Danish).

A brief quote from the written review: (in Danish)

"Udnyt virksomhedens indre værdier
For som bogens undertitel antyder, "Gør indre styrker til fremtidens vækststrategi" handler det meget omkring hvordan vi benytter organisationens interne værdier til at udvikle og skabe en unik konkurrencekraft.

Det er et fokus som nærmest så småt blev glemt da de fleste skulle besvare det ekstremt vigtige spørgsmål, som jeg ynder at udtale med min udprægede Århusianske accent, ”Hvordan?” – for hvordan sætter vi rent faktisk fokus på at udvikle vores virksomhed ved at sætte fokus på de interne styrker?

Det kommer Nicolai Stagis med et rigtig godt bud på i bogen. Hvordan virksomheder ved at sætte fokus det der er Autentisk i virksomheden kan komme frem til noget der er unikt og på rejsen der til være med til at udvikle virksomheden."

You can also read the full review of The Authentic Company: "Derfor har Emmerys problemer og NOMA succes” (in Danish).

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at a conference at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) together with my good colleague and dear friend, professor Majken Schultz. As always it was a great experience to share my theory and experience with an interested and engaged crowd, who were keen to learn more about how to create value in a company by using authenticity to grow a passionate brand.

I have lectured at CBS a number of times, however this was the first time after the launch of my new book Den autentiske virksomhed (“The Authentic Company”). I was delighted to share the podium with Majken, who was my supervisor back when the book was still a dissertation in 2006. The whole experience brought me back to where it all started – it has been a wonderful and exciting journey to where Stagis and I stand today. A journey that included visiting owners and managers of companies such as LEGO, Hästens, Alessi, Absolut, Ducati and BMW.

More than one hundred and twenty managers, communications professionals and students attended the conference. They heard Majken and I speak on authenticity, branding and identity and the value of joining these three elements as a means of creating growth, passion and leadership in the brand of the company.

I started the conference by presenting authenticity as a concept and a tool. I had chosen the two companies Ducati and Noma to illustrate where authenticity has been used successfully to respectively create a turnaround and provide inspiration for a new unrecognized position in the market place. I then elaborated on the three dimensions of authenticity (historical, reflexive and expressive authenticity) and how a company can be rated on these three dimensions in order to discuss possible ways forward for the brand. The discussion that followed had excellent questions and insights from the audience and I really enjoyed the debate. For me it's certainly the most interesting part of giving a talk, when the participants want to know more, discuss the cases and the idea and question to what extend it can be used.

In the second half of the conference Majken explained organizational identity and how this ties to authenticity. One of her most important points in this regard was the fact that identity is at the same time “who we are” and “where we are going” and an ongoing internal discussion in the company between employees, managers and stakeholders to reach consensus on this. Authenticity can be used to create a point of reference for all involved parts.

At the following networking reception I spoke to a bunch of interesting people telling me how their companies are working – or not working – with creating a focused and passionate identity. Many of them told me that they felt inspired by my presentation. Well, I am the one getting inspired by all of you. Every presentation that I give leaves me with loads of inspiration and new perspectives and viewpoints on authentic identity and I often receive feedback that I can use in my future work. I know Majken Schultz had a great time too, so hopefully we'll get back to doing more talks during the fall.

Thanks to everyone who participated at the conference – I look forward to meeting you again sometime. The participants have received emails with a link to our presentations. If you missed it, don't hesitate to send me an email. We might put together a few sound clips and video from the event - until then you can view videos from our conference in February.

”One of the best books in Danish on this subject. (…) The Authentic Company is an interesting book that invite leaders to focus on the company's inner strengths instead of market analysis and spreadsheets”.

The reviewer Henrik Ørholst from the newspaper Berlingske seems to be fond of my book even though he thinks the book has too many pages, and that the language is a bit to academic. I’ve certainly considered shortening the cases and the book in order to make it a quicker read and easier to get an overview. On the other hand, I know that some of the managers from the public sector are happy that I use examples that fit their mindset specifically, and managers from public and private healthcare organizations who appreciate the stories and examples that fit their everyday view of work.

The review is accompanied by an interesting article about the corporate museums, largely using examples from the book. I think the upside of the many pages (about 360 including introduction etc.) is that different people with a different focus can find examples, case-studies, research and knowledge that suit their need. I personally hate professional books that only refer the theory and the numbers – I want the story aswell. What did they do? How did they do it? And in their own words, please... So I’ve included the voices of Jørgen Vig Knudstorp from LEGO, René Rezepi from Noma, Alberto Alessi from Alessi, hoping that when you read the book you get to meet them and find inspiration from them, just like I did when I met them. Even though I largely view organizational authenticity as a strategic way of focusing the business, it is also about personal meetings and the way leaders are able of telling the story about what they did and where they want to bring the organization next.

I am considering making a shorter version of the book by shortening some of the case studies, taking out some of the contextual descriptions of what I call the “meaning society” (meningssamfundet) and focusing a bit more on the possibilities and tools that a manager can use in order to create an authentic company. So maybe by the end of this year or next year Henrik Ørholst get a book on the subject with fewer pages.

Here is a short extract of the review in Danish:

”Bogen har flere eksempler, som alle er spændende. Her finder læseren den utilpassede kok René Redzepi fra restaurant Noma. Her er der opbygget et stærkt brand med udgangspunkt i det nordiske fortælling, hvor der er mad fra vores del af verden, som er i centrum, og iscenesættelsen får alt hvad den kan trække pågodt og ondt. Bedst er historien om den italienske motorcykelfabrikant Ducati, der rejste sig fra ruinerne og blev forvandlet til et succesfuldt brand (…). Sidetallet er oppustet, og det er med til at sløre for budskaberne. Men nårlæseren får destilleret budskaberne, er det en af de bedste bøger på dansk om emnet. Forfatteren har eksemplerne parate igennem hele bogen.”

Noma is once again the World's best restaurant. Through their concept which is at the same time historic and uses the terroir of the Nordic region innovatively, they are able of creating a unique experience - what I call an authentic identity. When I released my book Den autentiske virksomhed ("The Authentic Company") in March, Nomas CEO Peter Kreiner gave an excellent talk on the authentic identity of the restaurant. He talked about the concept and how Noma has continually been striving to focus and narrow the identity and the concept of the restaurant in order to be more and more clear on the identity and the story of the organization.

You can view a segment of his talk on my vimeo-channel here:

Nomas fornemmelse for tid og sted med Peter Kreiner

I was ever so pleased to participate in a live interview on Danish TV2 News this evening during the event in London where the 50 best restaurants 2012 were named. You can also read about Noma and the importance of their identity in the article Det gør Noma rigtigt ("What Noma is doing right") on Berlingske www.b.dk today (Danish article).

Casper Vorting does something nobody else does. He produces beer the old fashioned way. Boegedal Brewery (Bøgedal Bryghus) produces beer without the use of pumps or thermostats of any kind. Casper uses original recipes from the 18th centrury and brews his beer using methods dating more than 100 years back. Even the location is a farmstend from the 1840’s. All these factors establishes Boegedal’s authentic position. Everything is done by hand and every brew is unique, when Casper mixes the ingredients by heart.

Boegedal Brewery is an excellent example of a small company that has positioned itself on the basis of the tradition of the craft and the producers own personal history, its dissociation with the market and the high level of personal presence. The marketing strategy is also different from other brands, as bottles are sold only through the best restaurants in Denmark and internationally, and through exclusive wine merchants. Meet Casper Vorting in this film or at the conference at ARoS on May 24.

If you didn't have a chance to join us at the book conference "Den autentiske virksomhed" in February you'll have a chance to discover some of the ideas on video - here is Casper Vortings talk:

Det autentiske bryg – med Casper Vorting fra Bøgedal Bryghus from Nikolaj Stagis.

"Inspiring and sympathetic management book with analysis and cases of international quality and scope." This is how the danish newspaper Politiken starts its review of Nikolaj Stagis' book The Authentic Company. Politiken uses hearts as a rating system, and the book recieves five out of six hearts from the reviewer, Kresten Schultz Jørgensen.

Here is a short extract of the review in Danish:

”Inspirerende og sympatisk lærebog, hvis analyse og cases har internationalt vingefang. Man fatter jo ladestokken og strammer kuglen helt nede i løbet ved mødet med endnu en bog om ”autentisk” kommunikation. Som Henrik Marstal så rigtigt analyserede begrebet i Politikens kronik 17.2 er ”autenticitet” pr. definition en relativ størrelse, en kamelæon, der kan bruges til at betegne næsten hvad som helst afhængigt af sammenhæng. Så hvad i alverden, kan man spørge, vil en tænksom kommunikationsmand som Nikolaj Stagis med en bog udgivelse om den autentiske virksomhed? Grave et spadestik dybere med en øvelse, der faktisk lykkes med en gennemarbejdet og klog bog om et begreb, man sagtens kan grine af, men som ikke rigtig kan undværes (…)
Bogens kommunikationsprojekt er en linedans: Forfatteren redegør for, at vi lever i postmoderne tider, hvor beskueren insisterer på at have ret, og hvor spin og overflade dominerer. Svaret er ifølge Stagis, at virksomhederne – hvis de har noget at byde på – i stigende grad søger indad efter identitet og de vandbærende lag. Dér ligger, i en verden af mediestøj og markedsanalyser, muligheden for at fremstå autentisk”.