Could it be that ‘authentic’ is overrated? Could it be that you should be a little more synthetic?

Authentic has a lot of good P.R., synthetic – not so much. We tend to think of authentic as pure, the true version, the real deal, and we tend to think of synthetic as artificial, not natural, an imitation.

But what happens if you’re scheduled for surgery on Monday morning, and your surgeon had a bad weekend. Do you want your surgeon to bring her authentic self, or a synthesis?

The authentic, true version, the real deal after that bad weekend is going to be tired, distracted, irritated, wishing she was somewhere else. No, she doesn’t bring that version because she’s a professional. Instead, she brings a synthesis of herself. A combination of her skills, and talents, and experience, and fortitude all combined to form a connected whole.

When we start trying to synthesise from our experiences, we start forming connections, and if we do it enough, we might develop it into a skill, and then we have the chance of forming unique connections, valuable insights that we own because of our unique combination of experiences and reflections.

The ability to make unique connections will allow us to solve interesting puzzles, to do work at the intersections of ideas, to make things better. So get out there, and synthesise.

P.S. Yes, this post is a synthesis.