The thread woven through the keynote speakers at the BuiltHOW conference this week was authenticity is the vehicle to move us out of discouragement.

Brendon Burchard talked about the discouragement the world is increasingly feeling. And that makes sense, he said. We’re three years removed from the start of the pandemic when all of us were abruptly upended from our “normal” lives in large and small ways.

We’ve all shifted and changed. When those shifts and changes do not go according to plan or don’t yield the results we wanted, it can lead to discouragement.

Ben Kinney talked about why we quit. A common denominator is discouragement. Chris Suarez talked about the marathon he trained for months to run and it DID NOT go his way. Easy path to discouragement.

The state of the economy & markets can lead to discouragement. We’ve been used to a certain level of effort and strategy getting requisite outcomes. For many, those outcomes are not happening.

And, if none of these problems have landed on our doorstep directly, we can be influenced into discouragement by OTHERS’ discouragement.

We don’t have to live in or otherwise succumb to discouragement. The path is through authenticity.

Jamie Kern Lima created a billion-dollar beauty business. I say “beauty” because she was on a mission to show the world that beauty comes in every human iteration. She did that.

It was her authenticity that made her brand IT Cosmetics into a phenomenal business. Her business success was due in large part to her QVC exposure. She tells the story of the first time she was on QVC. She had everything on the line for a 10 minute segment on the channel. 10 minutes that would keep her in business or literally bankrupt her. Make it or break it.

She had everyone telling her that she needed to use models with “unattainable aspiration” to sell make-up. That was conventional wisdom. Her brand and reason to be in business was because she wanted products for women with less than perfect skin. She went on air with models authentic to her & her company. She sold out in 10 minutes! From there, Jamie went on to a billion-dollar buyout and to become the CEO of L’Oréal.

She said “You don’t rise to the level of your dreams, you fall to the level of your self-belief.” Jamie says if our self-belief is unworthiness or not good enough, it will keep us from our dreams. Beliefs around unworthiness are NOT who we are. We are authentically worthy. Tapping into that authenticity is paramount to being the person we want to be in business and beyond.

Will Guidara is a restaurateur who built Eleven Madison Park to the #1 restaurant in the world. Yes, that is an actual ranking! He and his chef business partner revolutionized fine dining worldwide by putting emphasis on hospitality and the overall guest experience, as opposed to a singular focus on incredible food.

For Will, “unreasonable hospitality” is authentic to who he is. His restaurant and then series of restaurants became world-leading the more he leaned into that authenticity of elevating the full dining experience. He and his team removed subtle barriers to the experience like greeting customers by name upon entering like you were coming into someone’s living room and making the bill drop to complete the meal seamless without making people wait OR feel rushed.

He said all those little changes are “unreasonable.” Yet because he ran his business with authenticity he was able to see those changes that could be addressed to elevate the customer experience.

If you’re reading this and find yourself feeling discouraged, know that you’re not alone. I was in a room full of 2,000 high powered leaders that are experiencing levels of discouragement.

Tap into your authenticity; the person who you REALLY are. That person is worthy and deserving of all the dreams that you have. We simply must follow that authenticity.