I spent my Black Friday morning with a full pot of coffee, pondering the mental and emotional residue that lingered in my head and heart following several intriguing conversations, a bit of book writing, and a healthy dose of reading while traveling. 

A theme of authenticity, realness, connection, trust, and vulnerability had been woven throughout all those activities, which led to quite an assortment of thoughts on life, love, and leadership.

It appears that:

We crave connection. 

We want to be sincere and authentic, and want others to be the same. 

We want to trust and be trusted. 

We want to give and receive compassion. 

Yet…

These attributes—connection, authenticity, trust—seem to be in short supply, especially in corporate America.  

I sat at a table where rich food and wine were in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board.     ~Thoreau

Could this lack be due to:

…being so focused on our own personal agenda that we fail to assist others in achieving this?

…feeling inadequate to offer guidance, direction or assistance to others?

…being under so much pressure to perform that we that pressure to justify impersonal interactions and other moral short cuts, thinking that the ends justify the means?

…being caught in the societal/cultural trap of soulless success, celebrity and/or financial gain, and don’t know how to escape? Of maybe we don’t want to escape?

 …having made an art form out of Groucho Marx’s comment, “The secret to life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” With people committed to faking it until they make it, how can we tell what’s fake from what’s real?

…being afraid of our greatness as Marianne Williamson says we are?

Or could it be that I’ve gotten it all wrong? Ugh, that’s a nasty, nasty thought. That there’s no craving for soulful connection? That trusting is too risky? That it’s OK to practice pseudo-sincerity if it gets you where you want to be? That only the weak give or want compassion?

Nah.

I can’t believe any that could be right.

That would make the world just too awful a place.

What say you?

Image source before quote:  morgueFile.com