What happened to genuinity?

June 4, 2007 in Education & Learning, Graduate School, Ph.D. | 2 comments

What happened to genuinity?
No, not the word ‘genuinity’.
It doesn’t even exist.
I mean genuineness.

In a recent issue of a popular technical magazine, there was an article on networking for about-to-graduate-students. In that article, the author gave some ‘practical’ tips on how to build your network of prospective employers by pretending that you are not a job-seeker, and asking ‘sincere’ questions to build credibility. One of the tips was to ask recruiters their advice on how to improve your resume. In a nutshell, the author was implying that the perception of genuineness matters more than genuineness itself. But as Penelope says,

When you need a job, you’re not networking, you’re calling in favors.

It is really painful to read such articles with ‘practical’ tips. Why are such authors teaching students to pretend and manipulate, when the students are actually looking for a job? Why editors are allowing such stuff for publication that misleads the students? Don’t they feel responsible to educate students to be honest and genuine, and build a strong foundation for young generation? Or is it just about getting from here to there by any means?

What concerns me most is that the people who have ‘authority’ to disseminate knowledge are not careful enough to understand how such advice affects the younger generation. If these so-called ‘educated’ people don’t realize it’s impact, they shouldn’t be given such authority. They are corrupting the youth, the future. They are planting seeds of insincerity and dishonesty, which will soon grow into trees of hypocrisy and corruption.

This is related to what Stephen R. Covey said about the shift from character ethics to personality ethics in his book. The new trend is to create a perception of genuineness for personal gains. Many individuals and business organizations are doing it. Yes, it works sometimes, but in the end we are corrupting our own society. We are weakening the foundation on which a civilization survives.

Once you manipulate and if it works, you are tempted to do it again. The effects of such manipulating behavior are so subtle on you that without you knowing, soon it becomes a habit. You start manipulating your boss, clients, family and friends to get what you want. It seeps into your character and soon a wall of pretension builds around you, eventually leaving you alone, desperate and unsatisfied.

So, I request you all fellow students to not fall for such cheap tactics which will harm you in the long run. You don’t need to manipulate to become successful. Let’s not kill ‘genuinity’.

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  1. John Wesley’s avatar

    John Wesley on June 4, 2007 at 7:41 pm

    Nice post. You’ve touched upon an important subject. Appearances are everything in our society and people are more concerned with cultivating a sterling reputation than actually living virtuous lives. I’m unsure if this is new or not, part of thinks it’s the way things have always been. It’s all part of the disillusionment of growing up.

  2. Rise’s avatar

    Rise on June 4, 2007 at 10:26 pm

    I agree John that this is not new but it’s new for me as you said disillusionment of growing up. At each stage of my life I have had surprises because the reality didn’t seem as I thought it would be. But still I believe that not everything is lost. Things can be better. We just have to try a little harder and be genuine in our efforts.