Authenticity

I read an interesting blog by Arron, a good friend of mine who makes me think. You can find it here http://mylordandmyblog.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/are-we-still-of-any-use-2/. He talks a bit about honesty and authenticity.

I posted a little about my dad a few weeks back. I liked him. I loved him as well, but I think the most important thing is that as an adult I liked him. From what I remember most other people liked him. Dad was fun to be around, but probably more than that, it was easy to be with my dad. He was easy to be around. He didn’t talk a lot, so that may be some of it. But I don’t think that was all of it. I think that when he did talk, he meant what he said. I think that’s authentic. The 2^nd piece of that is that when my dad did something it agreed with what he said. Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t always like what he said. I also didn’t always agree with what he said. But dad was authentic. What he said was what he believed. What he did, he believed in.

The World English Dictionary defines authentic as “trustworthy; reliable” (www. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/authentic?s=t). So what does that mean? I’ve always interpreted it to being worthy of trust, someone you can rely on. If an authentic person says they will be somewhere at a certain time, they are there.

I also saw a lot of definitions that had to do with things of value being what they appeared. One reason a dollar bill is worth a dollar is because both parties believe it to be authentic, not a forgery. Art has value because it’s authentic; not a forgery.

I think a big part of being able to rely on someone is knowing that what they say is the truth.

Back to humans. Do you know any authentic humans? Do you know any humans at work that don’t lie to get ahead, that are honest about what they did on any given day, that tell the boss the authentic truth about their newest idea. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about being rude. I don’t think my father was ever rude. Authenticity isn’t rude. I don’t my father was ever even mean. Authenticity isn’t mean. He wasn’t judgmental. Authenticity isn’t judgmental.  He was authentic.

I want you to imagine something, maybe even dream. What would your worklife be like if everyone there was authentic? What would work be like if everyone in the meeting was authentic about the latest mission statement, the latest idea from up above? What would your homelife be like if everyone was authentic about their frustrations, their goals, their dreams?

Authentic. Kinda scary isn’t it?