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Q: What does authenticity mean to you?

A: I think it’s simple. Work hard. Empower and establish the expectations for your team members to give it their all. mentor and coach your team to be and do their best. Be honest, and your organization will thrive.

Q: In your opinion, can authenticity and professionalism coexist? 

A: I think you need both to be successful.

You must be able to work with various backgrounds of people and understand what makes them successful. If you establish a challenging work environment in which you want your employees to succeed, even beyond their imagination, then I think you are ahead of the game. I think we should all be striving to have both in the workplace.

Q: How do you apply authenticity, on a personal level, as a business professional?

A: You can’t have a good balanced personal life with family and friends without being real and genuine. Period.  The 4 F’s in life are important in this order: Faith, Family, Friends, and Fortune. Everyone should strive for that. It makes the work/life balance easier.

Q: How does your company/brand stay authentic?

A: We are still a young and small organization in our marketplace. There are a lot of advantages to being a smaller company like Vector.

I think it’s easier to be authentic [than not]. You know everyone very well within the organization…it’s more of a family setting. I believe that we can be honest and have our expectations easily understood. Accomplishing our goals while exceeding our internal and external customers’ expectations is driving our authenticity to the market.

Q: Is there such a thing as too much transparency?

A: Too much transparency? No. But proper approach, wording, timing, body language and effective listening is very important to a transparent work environment.

I believe that, while situations are different, usually a quick reaction can be negative especially without time to holistically evaluate. If you are at a smaller organization you might have more of an advantage of making sure that all your employees know you and your message and that the team has the same end goal. Lead with transparency, then figure the rest of it out.

Q: Do entrepreneurs and business owners have more freedom to be authentic than employees?

A: Perhaps in the most generalist form.

If you take a step back and evaluate how many people are depending on you, from your family to your employees and their families, your suppliers and their suppliers, your customers and their customers….it is actually thousands of people. That can weigh heavily on you.

So, freedom? Yes…but understand the implications of boundless freedom and how the entire chain is affected.

Q: Do you think that beliefs about what is “authentic” and “professional” are different for each generation represented in the current workforce?

A: So, I recently read that depending on what industry you are in you could have people from five different generations in the workplace. I also saw that by 2020, 47% of the workforce will be under the age of 35. So that it itself could change the perception of what it means to be authentic versus professional.

But each work culture sets the tone on expectations in the office. We strive to do the same. The idea of having experience and innovation as part of a multi-generational workforce is great! It puts us in a huge competitive advantage.

Q: Have you experienced displays of “authenticity” that you felt bordered on unprofessional?

A: There is a fine line, at times, between authenticity and unprofessionalism when people are in a relaxed/fun working environment. Education is key, but it does start from the top down as a culture. Addressing behavior and actions quickly and openly helps to set the right tone."Lessons Learned" sessions, done often, can be a positive influence on the organization if handled correctly.

Q: Is there a situation where someone has impressed or inspired you with their authenticity and/or professionalism?

A: I am impressed all the time by our team. Particularly some of our younger team members.

There was an incident surrounding a customer and us not meeting his expectations. The individual that was working with him was out that day and others had to chip in. After some "hoop jumping" got it resolved. The next day that individual came into my office, unprompted, after learning of the issue and asked for a meeting with me. He explained the situation, did not leave out negative details, told me was sorry, what he was going to do to correct it, that it would never happen again and thanked the team for their help. Little did he know, I already knew all the details and it wasn’t entirely his fault. But what I was most impressed with is that he took full ownership, addressed it very professionally. He was nervous yes, of course, but took responsibility without knowing consequences. We use it as an example of what "good" looks like.

Q: What are your views on personal/professional growth and how do you achieve it?

A: Taking ownership is key to anyone’s growth but focus on balanced growth. Too much too soon, or too little too long, is not healthy professional growth.

One aspect of personal growth is to talk about it. Talk about it with your employer. Be open and honest but in an approach of "how can I grow and help the company become more successful?"  Make sure you are discussing how you and the company can succeed, not just the ever-popular and one-sided question of "how can I make more money?" (Did you hear the lead balloon fall?)

Have the 4 F’s in mind when you grow professionally and you will be more successful as a result.

Q: Social media shows us a lot of entrepreneurial personalities who, in the name of being authentic, embrace shock-and-awe tactics such as unusually casual dress, excessive swearing or slang, refusing to work 40-hour weeks, directness that may border insensitivity, and more.

As these leaders’ behaviors, at times, starkly contradict traditional models of professionalism, what advice would you give young job-seekers concerning professionalism and authenticity?

A: Too much of one thing is not a good thing. It’s okay to show people who you are and what you stand for, but not to the point where your social tactic misrepresents the organization as a whole.

You, as a leader, represent your company. The whole company, including your brand and your employees. Would you do business with you?

Starting out, who you are is your brand but, over time, who you are becomes less important than what you do and, more importantly, what you do for others. Your work ethic, values, growth, success, and how you treat others, is authentic to you and who you are. A t-shirt, no socks, boastful entertainment claims, and 'look at me' social media posts are actually less authentic, in my opinion.

If you are looking to enter the workforce today and are not already dazed and confused by the amount of information out there, I’ll summarize with this:

Be you. Be professional when needed, let your hair down when you have earned it, and everything else will be "all right all right all right."

About the Author

Born local, Jared Boudreaux spent his childhood in Baton Rouge and Clear Lake before returning to finish high school in Beaumont, Texas. He graduated from ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University in 1998 with his degree in marketing.