If you can’t be perfect, please be genuine

I had the pleasure (and I do mean pleasure) of meeting Lizzy Shaw owner of a Los Angeles based PR company last weekend.  She was a speaker At the Helm 2012, a business conference I was attending.  Within the first few moments of the presentation, I think I heard the “f-bomb” atleast twice.  The group of workshop attendees  all had a surprise on their face.  We were all taken aback, until we realized, “no harm, no foul, this is just Lizzy!”

After the event, I had a conversation with a few workshop attendees, and the “f-bomb’s” became part of the conversation (not in a negative, but no one could escape that we were hit with f-bombs).  Once we got into the conversation, I said to the other ladies, “hey…do we really have the right to be surprised?”  They looked at me with confusion on their faces and I said, “did you see the title of the workshop?’  They glanced down at the paper and it said, “WHAT THE BLEEP IS PR?  HOW DO I GET SOME?”  We all laughed hysterically and began to compliment Lizzy on being the real deal and being genuine!

From what I experienced with Lizzy (and being a pretty good judge of character), I’m sure when speaking to clients she knows when to drop the “f-bomb” and when the “f-bomb” should NOT be dropped, but this blog is not really about the “f-bomb”, but learning to be the genuine you!

Early in my human resources career, I was concerned about being in a position where I would have to enforce company rules, (even some I may not agree with), but my job performance would be based on my ability to “do my job!”  One of my mentors told me, “a portion of your paycheck is designed for people to NOT like what you have to say.  You don’t come to work to be “liked”, you come to do your job, so do it!”  That mindset also became a huge part of my personality in being frank with people.  I figure, it’s better to just be upfront about things.  People may not like it, but they will learn to respect it and you!

Like Lizzy, you have the power to create a genuine you! You have to learn to be true to yourself before you can be genuine with  others.  In life, some will find it offensive, some will laugh about it, and others will just shrug and say, hey, when you deal with so and so, what you see is what you get!

If you find yourself being pressured to being who the media wants you to be instead of being the genuine you, tuck these steps in your briefcase and go forth!

• Being genuine sometimes requires you to do and say the unthinkable!
• Being genuine will also require you to do/say things that others don’t have the guts to say/do!
• Being genuine forces you to be “who you really are!” and not operate from a facade.
• Being genuine wont allow you to box yourself into a group, clique or social class.
• Being genuine will give you your own style, preference and way of doing things.
• Being genuine will sometimes force you say, well, if you don’t like it, I don’t give a f-bomb!

Yea sure, someone is sitting back saying, “oh I would never drop the f-bomb if I were doing a presentation!”, well, that’s fine because no one can beat Lizzy at being comfortable in her skin!  That fact that Lizzy can clearly, concretely and confidently be true to herself in a room of strangers speaks volumes about the risk she is willing to take not only for herself, but also for the clients that she represents.

We live in a world where we have wanna be’s, knock-offs, and cheap imitations – hey, it is what it is and um…we were in Los Angeles “Home to the many of the World’s Best Actors/Actresses!”     One thing I learned is Lizzy is the real deal… and she gave us names, addresses, emails, office and cell phone numbers of people in high places who work with Allure, Elle, InStyle, The Oprah Magazine and the likes.  So sometimes, it pays to not focus so much on what you feel the messenger is doing right/wrong and just get the message!

Lizzy, if you’re reading…. you can drop the f-bomb on me anytime because along with it comes invaluable information.  Thank you for being the genuine you!

The infamous “f-bomb” drops at 10:29 (Panel Discussion from At the Helm 2011)