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Being rewarded for being authentic

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Monday book giveaway is Hell in a Briefcase by Phil Little with Brad Whittington
My Thursday book giveaway is A Girl’s Best Friend by Kristin Billerbeck.
You can still enter both giveaways. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for the Hell in a Briefcase and post the title for another book I'm giving away.

Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page!

I have to toot my friend’s horn for her—Stephanie Quilao got a job at Microsoft (yes, THE Microsoft) as an “Enthusiast Evanglist.” She basically does human interest articles and maybe video podcasts for Microsoft about how ordinary people and professionals use Microsoft products in their everyday lives.

Steph has had phenomenal success with her Back in Skinny Jeans blog (isn’t that name just great? Hopeful and positive), mostly because she was honest and authentic in her blogging about various issues in technology and popular culture.

Her authentic blog caused Microsoft to look favorably on her very impressive resume because they wanted someone who could not only do the job, but convey it to people in a way that let them know she was being upfront and trustworthy.

Steph’s background is technology marketing, so she not only has her finger at the pulse of consumer culture, she’s up on the latest trends in technology as well.

One of the many things she’s terrific at is merging consumers and technology, especially consumers who may not understand the technology available and how it could affect their lives. She’s great at helping non-tech-savvy people, especially women, understand and be able to utilize technology products.

This job at Microsoft is PERFECT for her. She’s able to help regular joes with technology and show how other professionals are utilizing the technology that’s out there. She might even come to the ACFW conference to show how the publishing world is using Microsoft Word!

Congrats, Steph!

As Christians, sometimes being authentic gets us in trouble. Well, it gets ME in trouble, let’s put it that way.

But wasn’t Jesus transparent? Still, He was God and could have zapped all those puny humans with laser eye beams if He wanted, He simply chose not to.

Authenticity . . . Everybody liking me . . . Authenticity . . . Everybody liking me . . .

My problem is, my default setting is being brutally honest, which why Captain Caffeine often kicks me under the table when I say something.

How about you? Is authenticity a problem or a virtue for you?

TMI:

Bible in 90 days: day 34. Job is a good book for me to remember the character of God. Psalms contrasts it quite a bit for me, personally—the messages of “God can do whatever He feels like” in Job and “God rewards the righteous and punishes the ungodly” in Psalms. I know He’s both, it just struck me as kind of funny to have those two books right next to each other.
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Comments

  1. Malia SpencerThu Jan 04, 02:12:00 AM 2007

    You already know my stance on authenticity as a few recent e-mails tell that story. *vbg* Happy to report it's yesterday's news and I'll take being real any day.

    Maybe that's why we get along, I do brutally honest too and it has offended people in the past. I guess God needs to turn up the mercy gift, or is it the gag reflex? Either way I know I need to learn more tact, but I'm a lot better about it than I used to be. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MeljprincessThu Jan 04, 09:39:00 AM 2007

    Authenticity is not a problem for me.
    Congrats, Steph! Hope all goes well at the new job.
    Please enter me in your contest for the books, Camy. Thanks.

    Melissa Lawson
    Meljprincess AT aol DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousThu Jan 04, 11:04:00 AM 2007

    Kristen Billerbeck's books are phenomenal! Enter me in the drawing---I need another excuse to avoid grading papers!
    christa

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousThu Jan 04, 11:06:00 AM 2007

    OOPS--authenticity? hey--we're not supposed to be plastic and burp like tupperware when someone pushes the air out of us, are we?

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousThu Jan 04, 11:48:00 AM 2007

    Great Blog Steph. Camy, I try to be authentic, but nobody is perfect, so I am pretty sure that I give into the pop culture pressures at times just like everyone else.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousThu Jan 04, 12:58:00 PM 2007

    Excellent news for your friend. It really is about authenticity. My theory is that when we think we don't like somebody or somebody appears to be stupid, it's because they're being inauthentic. People try so hard to hide and it does just the opposite of what they hope for. Being authentic lets your real self shine. Being inauthentic makes you look stupid or repels people in some way.

    ReplyDelete

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