The 3 A's of Public Life: What we all need to be good 'public people'
Monday, April 3, 2006
(The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation)The Harwood Institute's research in communities
across the country shows that the vast majority
of Americans are in retreat from politics and
public life.
They have retreated, they
tell us, because leaders no longer reflect the
reality of average Americans' daily lives in
their words and actions. What's worse, they
often distort those realities for short-term
political gain.
If we are
serious about creating a different kind of
society, where people are actively engaged, our
leaders - and indeed, all of us - will have to
exercise a different set of sensibilities and
practices. It's a vital part of finding new
pathways for people to step
forward.
These sensiblities and
practices are all rooted in a foundation The
Harwood Institute calls "The 3 A's of Public
Life: Authority, Accountability, and
Authenticity." These words have come to mean
different things to different people. The
Harwood Institute has reclaimed
them.
Genuine authority (the type
derived from community credibility, not statute
or title) is earned through one’s knowledge
of the community and infusing that
knowledge
through one’s work.
Authenticity is one’s ability
to reflect the reality of people’s lives in
word and deed.
Genuine
accountability is measured by whether a
person sets realistic expectations for change
and pursues actions that are truly meaningful
to his or her community.
Rich Harwood
wrote a series of articles for Philanthropy
News Digest last year that explore these
concepts in details. They are available from our Web
site as a single pdf.