What does it mean to be your authentic self?
The next TalkTheTalk event will take place on October 5th, in New York. We will be talking about what it means to be your authentic self because never before has this topic been more pertinent or worthy of our attention. It is relevant on a personal level as we tend to become more disconnected as a society, and it is relevant on a professional level with many corporations aggressively promoting a carrot-and-stick culture.
We each play many roles throughout our daily lives, we become different characters in different stories, and convince ourselves that it’s for the best — it’s what we have to do in order to keep that job, to get that promotion, to fit in, to be liked, to climb the social ladder, to be a good husband/mother/son, to buy a bigger house, to send your kids to college or whatever dream you might be chasing. Where does it stop? Is there another way of doing it all? Can we give ourselves the chance to play no role whatsoever, and instead just be our authentic selves?
Largely speaking, authenticity means sticking to your core set of values and principles, regardless of the environment and, more importantly, regardless of the personal consequences/losses, whether this happens at the workplace, at home or among friends. It could mean losing jobs, friends and lovers, but ultimately, it makes for a better deal than losing your true self.
Authenticity, however, should not be mistaken for having to share 100% of yourself, 100% of the time. Most of our defence mechanisms are there for a reason, and should not be played around with. (Yes, I do agree that we ended up building walls around us that are way too high and way too many, but that is a longer discussion, for another time.) We do not have to share our personal lives at the office to ensure our authenticity, just as we don’t have to be disrespectful of others while sticking to our principles.
This TalkTheTalk event will not solve our authenticity issues, but we have to start somewhere. We want this to be our first step in helping people reconnect to themselves and to their work colleagues through simple and fun conversations.
In case you are thinking of joining our event on “What does it mean to be your authentic self?”, here’s a sneak peek at the questions we’ll be attempting to answer:
- What does authenticity mean to you personally?
- Are there identity aspects you feel you are hiding from your work colleagues/friends/family? Would you want them in the open or do you feel more comfortable withholding them?
- Were there times/instances in your life when you wish you would have stayed true to yourself instead of conforming to imposed standards?
This TalkTheTalk will be hosted by Michel Edwards, who is a great believer in encouraging people to bring their authentic selves to the workplace, to the benefit of both employers and employees. For more details about this event and many more in NY, visit our website www.talkthetalk.world.
