What does it mean to be authentic? Don’t worry, we aren’t diving into a lengthy historical or psychological discussion of the self. Still, authenticity is an important concept for anyone who stands in front of an audience. We are drawn to speakers who are authentic. One study even showed that 20 of the 25 most engaging speakers scored in the top 25% for authenticity.
Researchers Michael Kernis and Brian Goldman define authenticity as “the unobstructed operation of one’s true- or core‐self in one’s daily enterprise. However, instead of viewing authenticity as a single unitary process, we suggest that authenticity can be broken down into four separate, but interrelated, components.” They identified these components as: awareness, unbiased processing, behavior, and relational orientation. On Monday’s blog, we talked about those first two components: self-awareness and unbiased processing. We suggest going back and reading that now if you missed it. You can find it here.
Today, we’ll look at how our behavior and relational capacity can help us to be more authentic speakers.
Behavior
The third component of authenticity builds upon the first two (self-awareness and unbiased processing). It puts them into practice. Kernis and Goldman say that an authentic person behaves in a way that is consistent “with one’s values, preferences, and needs as opposed to acting ‘falsely’ merely to please others or to attain rewards or avoid punishments.”
One of the things we look for in great speakers is transparency. If a speaker isn’t being open or honest with us, we can usually tell. An authentic speaker is honest about her motivations and intentions. As Brené Brown says in her wildly popular TED talk “The Power of Vulnerability,” courage and vulnerability and authenticity are all linked. In this presentation, she talks about people who have a strong sense of love and belonging. And she says, “as a result of authenticity, they were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were, which you have to absolutely do that for connection.” This brings us to the last component of authenticity.
Relational Orientation
The final component of Kernis and Goldman’s definition of authenticity deals with how you relate to others. They say that relational orientation is about “valuing and striving for openness, sincerity, and truthfulness in one’s close relationships.” It’s all about how you connect to others. Here’s where authenticity gets tricky for public speakers. Authentic, healthy relationships require mutual trust. And they require reciprocity, give and take. It can be hard for you and your audience to build that kind of relationship given the context of public speaking. But it can be done. And it should always be attempted.
Here’s how you take the stage as an authentic speaker. You constantly seek knowledge about who you are, what you think, how you feel, what you do, and why. You frequently step outside of your natural, self-centered lens to take a look at how others might perceive you. And you behave in a way that is consistent with what you believe and you are honest and open about your motivations and intentions.
If we were to boil down this important research about authenticity, we’d do it like this:
- Learn about yourself.
- Then, get over yourself.
- Practice vulnerability.
- And relate to others warmly.
These 4 components are really 4 challenges or guidelines which can propel us to great authenticity as speakers (and as humans).
Want to learn more about your public speaking persona? Need feedback from an outside expert about your speaking style? We can help.
