I play several different roles in life. I am a father, husband, son. I am a boss and a work colleague. I am a youth worker/leader. I am a Hive blogger.
I was reading a post by @galenkp where he talked about online social media identities and how many people are so superficial and that they are not authentic.
It got me thinking - am I authentic in the different roles I play?
Authenticity means that actually do thing aligned to how you present yourself to be and that your actions are aligned to your true principles and values.
My values/princiles, are centred around truth, generosity, positivity, integrity, empowering and helping others.
This is how I conduct myself at work and how I believe as a boss of a large team at work, I gain their respect. They know I am honest. I trust them too and empower them to do their jobs. I am hopefully authentic, as I don't just talk the talk - I walk the walk.
The way I behave though is slightly different at work to some of the other roles I play in life.
At work, when I say something as the boss, it has an impact. Especially on the more junior staff. I have to be careful what I say.
When I speak to the team, they expect me to be positive and inspiring. They want a visionary message that will help them to understand where we are headed and why they are valued. When I speak to the team - I have to put my game face on.
This doesn't mean I am not authentic as I always act according to my underlying values but perhaps I can't fully relax and be myself?
In my role as a youth leader, I can relax and muck around more than I do at work. I actually find its nice, none of them really know what I do for work so its a refreshing break. I have to be guarded in other ways though. They are after all youth and they expect something from me as a role model.
At home, I do muck around with my kids. They see me as a bit of a joker and perhaps its because I can let my hair down at home in a way I can't when I am playing the different roles I play outside the house.
Its fine to play different roles in life - we all do. We will also have different visions for those roles. For example, my vision for myself as the good leader at work is different as the vision for myself with the role I play as a father for my kids.
However, in all my roles, I act them with the same underlying values and principles. These are deep routed parts of me that me who I am. I am not pretending to be someone else. People just see different views of the underlying me.
I do think that on Hive, I can relax a lot an be myself. I don't really mind what people think of my thoughts and beliefs. I am free to express myself how I want. That's a great place to be.