Companies, brands and their staging has become more superficial. At the same time society at large has developed a sensibility of authenticity. Consumers and employees are sensing to an increasing degree wether entering a relation to a company carries any meaning. The perceived authenticity is crucial to organizations af any kind. Large or small. Public or private. Business-to-consumer or business-to-business. Authentic companies are capable of creating significant success and increase the value of it’s products and services.

Authentic identity is about understanding where the company comes from and make it’s heritage a competence that indicates the authenticity of the company. About developing it’s beliefs and ambitions at making the company capable of expressing itself and create presence.

Stagis has developed a systematic method to map the values, processes and competencies that indicate the authenticity of the company. We call the solution Corporate Authenticity Mapping. Next, we’ve created a system to rate the authenticity on three distinct dimensions in any given stakeholder group. For instance the customers, media representatives, or the employees of the company. A Corporate Authenticity Mapping gives a clear picture of what indicators of authenticity are identifiable and valued by a stakeholder group and it forms the basis of developing a strategy for leading and developing the authentic identity of the company.

You can read more about authentic organizational identity on our blog or under press cuttings.

There are lots of opportunities to learn more about authentic organizational identity. Nikolaj Stagis has been lecturing on the authenticity of companies at Roskilde University (RUC) and Copenhagen Business School (CBS). He has also delivered talks, workshops and inspirational seminars on authenticity, identity and branding to a number of organizations, private as well as public institutions. Talks and workshops on The Authentic Company with Nikolaj Stagis can be arranged by special agreement by contacting Stagis at +45 33 23 13 00 or by contacting Anne Skovrider by email.

The crucial factor of success lies in the authentic identity of the company. But how are we to understand, measure and lead authenticity? In the management book The Authentic Company you can learn what organizational authenticity is, how you can map the authenticity of your company and get examples of how some of the most successful leaders of our time have been focusing on the authenticity of their companies.

In the fall of 2006 Nikolaj Stagis completed the master thesis ’Authentic Organizational Identity – between action and meaning’ at Copenhagen Business School. Since then Stagis has further developed the research based method Corporate Authenticity Mapping which makes it possible to map and rate the authentic identity of a company. In the fall of 2007 Stagis sent a team of researchers around Denmark to map how the Danes perceived the authenticity of the Danish dairy giant Arla. Since then we have studied how a number of Danish and international companies lead their authentic identity.

’The Authentic Company’ gives a unique view on how we can start to understand and lead the authenticity of the company and meet the customers’ need for relating to authentic companies. The book is about the fundamental changes of society sets high demands of every organization. It examines what the three dimensions of authenticity is, how they can be mapped and illustrates through examples how leaders can handle authentic organizational identity.
An impressive line of leaders, founders and owners have agreed to enter a discussion of their management practice and the authenticity of their companies. The Authentic Company offers cases from Hästens, V&S Absolut, LEGO, Novozymes, Bøgedal, Hummel, Noma, Arla, Ducati and Alessi.

The Authentic Company ("Den autentiske virksomhed") will be published in Danish in January 2012 by renowned publishinghouse Gyldendal. Later it will be published in Swedish and an international edition will be published in English.