Navigating Authenticity in a Diverse World - Be Okay With Being Yourself.

I believe one of the most important values an individual can bring to any role is their authentic self; their diverse ideas, experiences, thought processes and knowledge. By embracing and understanding unique experiences, organizations and leaders can improve workplace dynamics, customer engagements, and better empower their employees through supporting individuals' as such.

However valuable, it is possible the nuances of staying true to oneself may not resonate with others - and that is perfectly okay. Being yourself in a diverse world requires you to be okay with not being everyone’s ‘favorite’ person, or be okay with being ‘disliked’.

Not everyone likes coffee, but we can still navigate life knowing that some people are just tea people, and others choose chaos and chew on ice.

As a human who grew up outside of normative expectations and experiences, I have often believed that I am not only different from other individuals, but that I am not as easy to like as other individuals as well. What I mean by this is, some people may not appreciate the commentary I have, experiences I share, or values I hold… It’s taken me a long time to understand that, that’s okay. I don’t have to be everyone's favorite flavor human.

I entered public school in 11th grade after being homeschooled. In small town Colorado, I had a few socially unacceptable traits which made me not very popular with other students. The worst of those traits was that I was unapologetically myself. While that teen was not my best self, I am proud of how unrelenting I was, and that I never shied away from opportunities regardless of who liked me. I would never have won the vote for Prom Queen.

I found more friendship in my educators than my peers - like my French teacher who would give me a cheese stick every class if I could ask in French, then would tell me stories about his life in Europe. Or the art teacher who allowed our class of four advanced students to paint the coolest mural for half a semester, and sang and danced with us the whole time. To this day my English Teacher from 12th grade is my best friend; they even performed my wedding ceremony when I married my sweetheart nearly a decade later.

In today’s professional settings I am still not the standard expectation of my peers nor profession. Tattoos and peacock colored hair aside, I also keep LEGO bugs on my desk and play music all day in my office. I have been told I am ‘too chipper’, and have been asked to ‘contain my weird’. But every day I come to work with a mission to accomplish, and I love the opportunity to solve problems and support my team. I try to bring my authentic self to work every day, the good days and the bad ones. There have been more welcoming individuals the further into my career I get, and the more I present authentically the more I receive authenticity in return.

I find authenticity to benefit genuine connections and workplace dynamics. But I recognize there will always be a person who will just not like working with me… and that’s okay. We can still succeed together if we work towards the same goal.

It's inevitable —universal approval is an unattainable goal. Instead of seeking unanimous acclaim, one should focus on actions that align with our core values, and overall purpose. In doing so, we liberate ourselves from the burden of seeking validation externally. In the workplace, this means maintaining professionalism is paramount when faced with differing opinions, or that person who doesn’t like you. Constructive communication and understanding become tools to navigate the balance between authenticity and harmonious collaboration. The key lies not in avoiding differences but in engaging with them respectfully, valuing them against systems which are not clouded by bias.

In a truly authentic workplace, diversity of thought is not only acknowledged but celebrated. Embracing differing perspectives enriches the collective experience, fostering innovation and creativity. It also requires navigating a minefield of pitfalls, such as dismissing opposing opinions outright. Every viewpoint holds a piece of the truth, and respectful dialogue opens the window to mutual understanding. Authenticity loses its luster when it turns a blind eye to the richness of diverse perspectives.

In a world which has become so copy-pasta or cookie cutter, let us remember the weird ones which have been part of our journey and hope that we weren’t always them… but if we were, that’s okay too.

I hope you embrace your authenticity, wield weird professionalism as your force, and revel in the diverse circuit-board of thoughts that shapes humanity's collective narrative. Resistance is futile.

Thanks for reading, friends.