Is This Really You

I’m not a big believer in ‘being the same person no matter who you’re with’

I don’t think that’s what authenticity is - that’s just uniformity. That’s keeping everything exactly the same, no matter who we’re with and what context we’re in.

That never really happens - and the small percentage of people who do this, are social outliers (because we’re social creatures, and one of the things we’re bloody good at is adapting our behaviour to within certain norms and constraints)

I wouldn’t act the same with my grandma vs talking to my mates at 2am after day drinking

That doesn’t mean I’m ‘fake’ or ‘inauthentic’, it just means I have the emotional intelligence (sometimes) to understand what the situation dictates of me

Authenticity for your audience isn’t giving them all of you - it’s just making sure that you don’t give them none of you.

It’s knowing and understanding what truth to show for the moment you’re in. Intentionality is key.

I know people who share nothing, and need to get their opinion across more because their ‘persona’ online is inauthentic

I know people who share way too much, in the hope that it makes them seem authentic - which is naturally inauthentic

(For the above - see LinkedIn. ‘Here’s 10 things I learnt about B2B sales when my grandma was knocked down and killed by the number 7 bus’ hardly smacks of authenticity, does it?)

All online content is curated, very little of it is completely ‘authentic’ and ‘real’

The guy posting about his spiritual awakening still had to type it out

The girl posting a candid video of her crying, still had to set up the camera

Being authentic still means carefully curating your brand and image

But curation requires there to be something of interest there - which means you need to start sharing what you really think.

That’s the authenticity part.