Genuineness is going to be a personal trait that will likely be appreciated by everyone in your life, regardless of how emotionally invested they are in you. To quote our book, "Genuineness is essential to all vital relationships. To the degree that I lack authenticity, I am unable to relate significantly to any other person. I must dare to be me to be able to relate to you." (1). A spouse may be happy that they feel they know you on a deep level because of it, while a co-worker (peer, subordinate, and boss alike) might have faith that you are a solid person who can be trusted to represent the organization in a positive way. Genuineness in management is, in my opinion, extremely important when considering work productivity, employee/customer satisfaction and happiness, and the organization's image/reputation. It can be challenging to maintain genuineness in all of one's relationships, including the relationship to self; we are presented with situations often, possibly daily, in which it would be easier in the short term to "chameleon" ourselves to a stressful environment to avoid confrontation, save time, or simply go unnoticed until the situation passes. This short term ease, however, can become much more problematic if the behavior becomes a barrier in our relationships. Our family, friends, and co-workers may begin to think of such a person as "shady", "untrustworthy", "aloof", "spineless", etc., and the effort required to repair those relationships may be much higher than the effort it takes to be genuine in every moment. Being genuine in management helps build relationships with customers as well. Customers may be cautious when dealing with a new person or organization, and the sooner a manager succeeds in showing themselves as genuine to the customer, the better. One should be careful of swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction as well; 'what you see is what you get' is part of genuineness, which can be used inappropriately as a rationalization of apathy or lack of concern for others. It's ok to make mistakes when working on genuineness, as being genuine also means owning those mistakes and communicating your apologies timely and openly. A sincere apology the moment you realize you've done something wrong goes a long way when bringing genuineness to a relationship.
1. "People Skills" by Robert Bolton
