In recent times, there has been a substantial push by people to escape the metropolis for lifestyles in small coastal, country, or mountainside locales. This book explores the narratives emerging from amenity-left migration using methods developed within the 'strong' cultural sociology.

Seeking Authenticity provides reflection, insight, and humor, packaged into a series of essays and short stories. The essays integrate philosophy from the past and produce a spark for contemplation over timeless fundamental values. This writing aims to interrogate and explore an eminent buzzword of our era: Authenticity.Do you spend your time well? Are you honest? Grateful? Resilient? Responsible? Do you have purpose? How do these questions and ideas lead to authenticity in your own life? Explorations into these values are expressed in parallel with the story of a near year-long surfing and hiking adventure from British Columbia, Canada to Queensland, Australia, with stops down the West Coast of the United States and Hawaii. These stories encompass sometimes poetic, sometimes sarcastic, yet always honest, expression.

Volume 2 of the Research in Careers series focuses on the search for authenticity in one’s career. Although there has been growing interest in the topic within the popular press, relatively little academic research has been completed on authenticity and careers. Researchers are still refining the concept of authenticity and are just beginning to investigate how it influences the enactment of careers in today’s turbulent career landscape. This volume offers the first organized effort on the topic. This volume contains seven chapters which examine the search for authenticity derived from the Kaleidoscope Career Model (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2006). Chapters 1 and 2 present a review of the literature and an in-depth analysis of the construct of authenticity. Chapter 1 offers a new lens to view career authenticity based on two dimensions of self-awareness and adaptability. Chapter 2 uses two case studies to define how individuals are authentic in their career. Chapters 3 and 4 examine the authenticity of individuals in different career stages, with Chapter 3 examining recent college graduates and Chapter 4 examining mid to late stage careerists. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 focus on the interplay between social interactions and career authenticity. Chapter 5 offers a process model that traces how, through negotiation, a person’s identities shape and are shaped by relationships with others, leading to the enactment of an authentic career. Chapter 6 explores how individuals remain authentic in their career while negotiating the conflicting expectations of multiple interest groups. Chapter 7 examines the complex relationships among career authenticity, political behaviors, and strain.

One of Canada's hippest, smartest cultural critics takes on the West's defining value. We live in a world increasingly dominated by the fake, the prepackaged, the artificial: fast food, scripted reality TV shows, Facebook "friends," and fraudulent memoirs. But people everywhere are demanding the exact opposite, heralding "authenticity" as the cure for isolated individualism and shallow consumerism. Restaurants promote the authenticity of their cuisine, while condo developers promote authentic loft living and book reviewers regularly praise the authenticity of a new writer's voice. International bestselling author Andrew Potter brilliantly unpacks our modern obsession with authenticity. In this perceptive and thought-provoking blend of pop culture, history, and philosophy, he finds that far from serving as a refuge from modern living, the search for authenticity often creates the very problems it's meant to solve.

Contrived. Disingenuous. Phony. Inauthentic. Do your customers use any of these words to describe what you sell—or how you sell it? If so, welcome to the club. Inundated by fakes and sophisticated counterfeits, people increasingly see the world in terms of real or fake. They would rather buy something real from someone genuine rather than something fake from some phony. When deciding to buy, consumers judge an offering's (and a company's) authenticity as much as—if not more than—price, quality, and availability. In Authenticity, James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II argue that to trounce rivals companies must grasp, manage, and excel at rendering authenticity. Through examples from a wide array of industries as well as government, nonprofit, education, and religious sectors, the authors show how to manage customers' perception of authenticity by: recognizing how businesses "fake it;" appealing to the five different genres of authenticity; charting how to be "true to self" and what you say you are; and crafting and implementing business strategies for rendering authenticity. The first to explore what authenticity really means for businesses and how companies can approach it both thoughtfully and thoroughly, this book is a must-read for any organization seeking to fulfill consumers' intensifying demand for the real deal.

Discover how to lead with authenticity and agility in a fast-changing world! “Wired for Authenticity is the definitive guide to your journey of self-awareness. Along the way, you will meet the colorful cast of characters that inhabit and inhibit you, and you will develop the skills you need to recognize, confront, and influence outcomes. Henna Inam’s vulnerable and irreverent style will enable you to unleash your inner authentic self.” —Alex Wellen, chief product officer, CNN “In Wired for Authenticity, Henna Inam reintroduces us to our original nature and offers practices to bring that authentic person to life! When our true selves show up to work, we can better connect with our teams, colleagues, family, and friends. Even more powerful, we give those around us permission to do the same. It is contagious!” —Kathleen Ciaramello, president, National Food Service and On-Premise, Coca-Cola Refreshments Leadership today is more challenging than ever. Trends including the rapid pace of change, constant restructuring, and a 24/7, always-on work environment are creating overwhelmed employees and eroding trust in workplaces. Organizations need leaders who drive engagement, innovation, and outstanding client experiences. How can you be this type of leader? Henna Inam shares proven strategies based on neuroscience research and her work as an executive coach and speaker, with clients who are executives in Fortune 500 companies. The practical tools she shares in this book have worked for her clients and can help you • practice a new model of authenticity to be more trusted and agile and less overwhelmed; • experience greater success and fulfillment in your leadership, workplace, and life; • engage and innfluence clients, peers, and bosses more powerfully; and • lead team members with more inspiration and ease.

The pursuit of authenticity is a contemporary obsession. From hipster fixations on artisan coffee and vintage clothing through to the electoral success of supposedly unspun populist politicians like Donald Trump, a yearning for the real pervades our culture. Yet while highly prized and desired, authenticity is also profoundly elusive and contested. This volume stages a wide-ranging interdisciplinary interrogation of the concept, with case studies ranging from collective memory of the Second World War, through the historical fiction of Sarah Waters to the confessional art of Tracey Emin. With contributors drawn from memory studies, cultural history, English literature, theatre studies, and art criticism, it explores how authenticity is in play in diverse practices of reading, remembering, and performing. The chapters demonstrate that authenticity has no single stable definition, but is rather invoked in very diverse ways – both descriptively and prescriptively – in many diverse contexts. They also make clear that it is not an inherent quality but the product of orchestration, performance, and inter-subjective negotiation. This book was originally published as a special issue of Rethinking History.

In a society that pushes conformity, how can you be courageously authentic despite fear of judgment? Award-winning leadership and diversity expert Ritu Bhasin gives you the tools to make this happen. This is more than a call to "be yourself"-it's a rally to disrupt the status quo, bring your differences to the light, and help others do the same.

Religion is not enough. Culture is not enough. Both religion and culture are important, even crucial to living a full life, but they are not enough. Choosing authenticity is the only thing that is enough. Our deepest desire is for our active lives to actually become more and more an authentic expression of who we are and who we are called to be by that Mysterious Other we call God. We long for a No BS Spirituality that changes the way we actually experience and live our lives. We need spiritual practice that facilitates that growth and transformation, and conversion of heart. It is my prayer that these reflections will respond to that longing. Read, reflect, and enjoy!

Once a promising young concert pianist, Camille Childs retreated to her mother’s Santa Barbara estate after an injury to her hand destroyed her hopes for a musical career. She now leads a solitary life teaching piano, and she has a star student: Graciela, the daughter of her mother’s Mexican housekeeper. Camille has been grooming the young Graciela for the career that she herself lost out on, and now Graciela, newly turned eighteen, has just won the grand prize in a piano competition, which means she gets to perform with the LA Philharmonic. Camille is ecstatic; if she can’t play herself, at least as Graciela’s teacher, she will finally get the recognition she deserves. But there are only two weeks left before the concert, and Graciela has disappeared—gone back to her family’s village in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. Desperate to bring Graciela back in time for the concert, Camille goes after her, but on the way there, a bus accident leaves her without any of her possessions. Alone and unable to speak the language, Camille is befriended by Alejandro, a Zapotec man who lives in LA but is from the same village as Graciela. Despite a contentious first meeting, Alejandro helps Camille navigate the rugged terrain and unfamiliar culture of Oaxaca, allowing her the opportunity to view the world in a different light—and perhaps find love in the process.