Photo by Gabriele Stravinskaite on Unsplash
Content used to be king. Now it’s authenticity.
What do we want from our political leaders? Authenticity. The most common personal branding advice? Be authentic. And businesses are offering their managers authenticity training.
At its best, the call for authenticity is a call for growth, change, and honesty. At its worst, it does the opposite.
The authenticity peddlers may not intend for their words to inhibit change, growth, and honesty. But language has a power that stands apart from those who utter the words.
Human beings are complicated. In one situation, we might be bold, fully transparent, and forthright. At another time we might be guarded and reluctant to speak. Both are authentic responses to the situation in which we find ourselves. Knowing which response best fits the moment is a mark of emotional intelligence.
The authenticity game assumes there is a fixed mix of characteristics, abilities, and ideas that represent the true you. But characteristics and abilities can be developed, ideas can change, and we should vary our responses for different situations.
If authenticity becomes the North Star to which we orient ourselves, it may stand in the way of change, development, and emotional intelligence.
“Be authentic” is equivalent to “Stop pretending.” For someone who wasn’t pretending in the first place, this advice is confusing. To adopt this confusing advice, a person will try to fake sincerity. If they fake sincerity well enough, they will be praised for their authenticity.
We all hate when people try to pass themselves off as something they’re not. That’s the opposite of authenticity. It’s called lying.
Don’t lie is good advice.
Telling people to be authentic is bad advice. It suggests that being authentic is something you need to strive for, not something you are. If you try to be authentic, you will tie yourself up in knots. Authentic knots.
Those who stand behind the authenticity machine will insist this is an incorrect understanding. Being authentic, they say, is about shedding the insecurities that lead us to present ourselves as something other than our true, wonderful, selves.
But discomfort and insecurity are a part of change. While we’re on the path of change, we may not yet be able to give voice to what’s happening within us. And humans are always on the path of change.
Other than intentional liars, no one sets out to be inauthentic. We show up differently depending upon the situation. And we are all a work in progress.
Don’t lie. And don’t try to be authentic.
Be your inconsistent, imperfect, work-in-progress, self.
How could you possibly be anything else?