Happy Hour at The Sunrise Senior Living Facility is always a wild affair.  Live music, free-flowing drinks, and trivia, all deftly mixed together into a power hour of fun.  Let the good times roll!  Typically, the entertainer is a “young” man in his 60s, who knows all the old-time classics.  Roll Out the Barrell.  Goodnight, Irene.  When the Saints Go Marching In!  The residents are used to offering requests and LOVE to hear their favorite, familiar songs.

But this past Friday, the usual entertainer could not make it, and in strolled a long-haired, tattooed, guitar-slinging millenial, with enough energy to power the Las Vegas grid.  This was gonna be interesting!  He wasted no time with introductions and furiously unfurled a rousing rendition of “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z and Alicia Keys.  He twirled, twisted, stood up on a chair and rollicked his way through the entire song. At the end, he took a dramatic bow and waited for the applause.  Crickets.  The target audience was way more New York, New York Frank Sinatra than Jay Z.  My dad’s handkerchief was older than this guy.  He was in trouble.

But undaunted, he recognized he had “missed”, and decided to take a few requests.  The Sunrise residents always have a few classics ready, and they shouted them out:

“How about ‘Sunny Side of the Street’?”

I’m sorry, ma’am, I’m not familiar with that one.

“Okay, can you please play ‘Moon River’?”

Another whiff.

“Fine, can you at least play ‘The Tennessee Waltz’?”

I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know that one.

The resident was incredulous.  And went to a full Jim Mora “Playoffs?” meltdown.

“You Don’t Know ‘The Tennessee Waltz?!’  Are You Kidding Me? “

The place was on the verge of a full-blown riot.  I wondered what the protocols were for a lockdown at a retirement community.  But the new entertainer powered through.

Here’s one I bet you know!

And he went into a raucous version of “Country Roads”.  The residents gave him enough rope to try another one.  He wasted no time with a patriotic version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, complete with a Jimi Hendrix riff played behind his back.  Then an adrenaline-fueled version of YMCA, with a faux Pete Townsend guitar smash at the end of the song.  As he danced and pranced and stalked around the room, a funny thing happened.  The residents started to like him.  His energy was infectious.  He was different, but he had remained true to himself and his style the entire time.

By the end of the show, the residents were begging for more.  And he was all too eager to oblige!   It was a great lesson in having faith and staying authentic.  And couldn’t we all benefit by employing more of that in our own lives?

Stay True to Yourself

In our work lives, we will be pulled in many directions.  Our companies will want some consistency in approach and we will have to conform to some degree.  We can mimic and study others as we go.  But we can’t lose ourselves in the process.  Ultimately, the only way to connect and make a true impact is to relentlessly deliver our authentic selves to everything we do.  Energy, enthusiasm, and positivity matter.  And they should not be taken for granted.  But more than anything, our unique approach, including our quirky mannerisms, and our bona fide style will win the day.

There will be times when we will be tempted to abandon our approach.  Perhaps our sales start to slide.  Perhaps our market share starts to erode.  Perhaps we suffer an uncharecteristic losing streak.  We will need to re-evaluate and pivot and tweak our approach.  But we can’t stifle our own fire.  We can’t stop taking risks and shy away from our gut instincts.   We all have something unique and authentic to bring to the table.  The office would be a much less interesting place without our originality!

And the same is true in our personal lives.  There is no one approach to parenting.  There is no one approach to expressing our love and friendship.  There is no one approach to celebrating.  We don’t need to act like everyone else.  We can never lose that sparkle and shine that comes with staying true to ourselves!

Authenticity Matters

And in difficult times, that authenticity is even more important.  We will feel the white-hot spotlight that comes from failure.  We will feel the pressure to conform and stand down.   But we have to muster the courage to trust ourselves and stand tall even when chaos is unfolding around us.   We can’t abandon what got us here.  This is when we need to double down on our true selves!  Resilience shines when we have the confidence to trust our approach even when the world is stacked against us.

We are who we are. For better or for worse.  So why fight it?  It won’t be easy.  There will be voices coming at us in all directions.  But we have to listen to that voice inside our own head.  We have to have confidence in our own ability and approach.

So what if we don’t know the words to “The Tennessee Waltz”?  We still have to go out there and deliver the authentic performance of a lifetime!