29770 views, 119 likes and 19 comments — the staggering demand for “authenticity”?

I promise you, the title is not a bait and switch. This happened to me. Recently. And I am still trying to gauge why it happened. For what I thought was an innocuous #SundayMusings update. This is how the update went that I posted on LinkedIn just over a week ago.

“I am confused. I see an increasing number of professionals who are ‘honored and humbled’ simultaneously and post a picture of themselves on a grandiose stage or accepting an impressive sounding award of some sort. Which is it? Honored — then come out with a loud self-proclamation — humility be gone. Humble — then stop with this self-promoting selfie and let the accolades come by naturally if it is well-deserved. #SundayMusings”.

That’s it. And the statistics, based on my past batting averages at least, is staggering. Why?

After some “human analysis” and discussion with friends, this is what I think happened. Our frenzied social media-driven world has forced most of us to constantly seek a way to stand out in the deafening noise or be forgotten by the wayside. #Unacceptable. And that leads us to the following behaviors I believe

Magnification: We all have an instant podium and a megaphone and an audience waiting with bated breath (or we like to believe that in our delusional stupor) and therefore the most inane acts need to be chronicled with detail. While this has been true of Facebook, the fact that the LinkedIn post caused such a strong reaction leads me to assert that we seek the same magnification of otherwise inconsequential events in our professional lives as well. #ElevateNonsense

(Im)Modesty: God forbid that someone thinks we are arrogant like Robert Downey Jr (recall the conversation with Zdravko Cvijetic about this), so we need to play the “modesty” card while still shouting to the world about our casual coolness that is vaulting us into stardom. A reluctant star who is doing everything to stay out of the spotlight but the fans will have none of it. #HumbleBrag

(Ir)Relevancy: IMO, this is probably at the root of it all. If I don’t stand up and say “something”, maybe I cease to be of relevance. Recall the feeling of stage fright. That knot at the bottom of the stomach where you feel like throwing up in front of an audience. Heck — in the social world, it is the opposite. If I have not regurgitated enough, the audience might forget me. #RabidRegurgitation

And all three put together — Constant Magnification, Blatant Immodesty, and Fear of Irrelevancy — leads to complete inauthenticity.

And everyone sees through that. And caused them to react strongly. That’s my causation for those crazy stats. I am humbled — JK!