jellybeans
I recently read an article which posited that authenticity replaces authority.
I don’t believe this is true, I think that when it comes to social business, they are equally important. However, I began to reflect on the statement and was reminded of an incident that occurred years ago, where my lack of authenticity compromised my authority (and the humiliation still stings years later).
A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes turned my life upside down and I was desperately trying to adjust. I was injecting insulin multiple times a day and if I had insufficient insulin, my blood sugars were high with associated altered states including significant confusion.
If I had too much insulin, my blood sugars would plummet resulting again in altered states, confusion, flickering vision and other privations! The only solution lots of fast acting glucose as soon as possible, (jelly beans).
At about this time, the company I worked for was in the process of multiple mergers. I had to go to offices in Sydney and NSW to undertake due diligence in relation to marketing and communications.
I was picked up in Sydney and already had the early symptoms of low blood sugar. I ignored it as I did not want anyone to know, (I should note there that this was many years ago).
I was at the first of the meetings with one of the managers, when I started to feel very peculiar and my eyes started to flicker and go in and out of focus, (one of the symptoms of hypoglycaemia). In trying to decide if I was hypoglycaemic, I kept staring into the manager’s face to see if it was me or some other problem. She must have wondered what on earth this woman was doing!
Had I been more authentic (or more fearless) at the time, I would have excused myself to get my bag (in another office) and quickly eaten my jelly beans.
Because I didn’t want them to know this thing about myself, I tried to hide the fact that my body was shutting down.
As they were showing me around the buildings, I picked up my bag and later surreptitiously took out my jelly beans. Well it would have been surreptitious if I hadn’t been separating the reds from the blacks, the greens from the browns etc. One of the managers asked if I was ok. I ‘fessed’ up and she explained that her child had type 1 diabetes so she understood.
My fear was that I’d lose authority if I were honest (authentic). The embarrassment of asking for some simple assistance was nothing compared to staring into someone’s face and playing with the jellybeans!
Authenticity comes in lots of forms. You can usually identify genuine authenticity and respond positively. Many of us will respond negatively when a piece of writing, a person, an online identity is not genuine.
