ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role of authenticity as a framework for making and living our career choices, with a view toward crafting a type of success that is nurtured without undue regard to the opinions or judgments of others. Building on prior research supporting a person-centered approach to defining authenticity they identified three factors as the basis for examining congruence: self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence. Researchers who examine authenticity within the contexts of self-concept and identity have debated the idea of an unchangeable, and therefore singular, self. A related misconception is that unfiltered transparency equates to authenticity. The notion that saying or doing whatever one wants or feels under the justification of authenticity is a misguided way of understanding or living the principle. Michael Gibson has studied the correlation between hip-hop music and authenticity. He found that “street credibility,” a type of industry authenticity, is an important marker for success for those working in the genre.
