Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Is this person who and what they claim? Is this person authentic?

The term “authenticity” is being tossed about much recently. I once worked in a job where determining the authenticity of a person was important. I struggled to understand what that meant. Here is some of what I learned.

Is this person who they claim to be?

Is this person as “caring” as they claim to be? (Substitute any attribute for “caring”)

Is a person authentic? Do they stand up and say,

This is who I am

or

This is who I want to be

Failure to be authentic can be quite humbling. See, e.g., NBC’s Brian Williams.