Authentic: How to Make a Living By Being Yourself [Paperback]

Neil Crofts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2003

Thinking about getting up and telling the world what you stand for is daunting. Actually doing it is terrifying but the rewards are incredible. Imagine spending every waking hour doing what you love... Authentic shows how to do just that. 

In Authentic, Neil Crofts offers inspiration for individuals tired of career conformity. He shows how we arrived at a situation where many of us are tied to jobs we don’t enjoy. He demonstrates the steps you need to take to find out who you are and what you want from life, and finally, he reveals how you can turn all that into a business idea that is Authentic to you.

Authentic is a lifestyle book based on practical experience. Neil Crofts’ vision of a role that allowed him to be true to himself and make a positive impact on the world around him convinced him to break out of a conventional corporate career. Authentic is about giving others the courage to follow their hearts in the same way.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…who is truly evangelical on the subject…" (The Guardian, 12 August 2003)

“…advises would-be authentics to ‘come out as yourself’...” (Sunday Times, 18 January 2004)

“…Neil’s book tells of his personal journey to authenticity and includes a guide to taking the steps yourself…” (Positive News, Winter 2003)

"... it is a wake up call and a well researched, very useable wake up call at that ... This is a read to be taken seriously …" (Weekly Telegraph, 12 November 2003)

“… offers inspiration for individuals tired of career conformity.” (Global Law Review, 5 April 2004)

“…does make great points…” (Be Unlimited, May 04)

From the Back Cover

Have you ever felt a tension between who you are and what you do?

You are not alone.

Thinking about getting up and telling the world what you stand for is daunting enough; actually doing it is terrifying - but the rewards are incredible. Imagine spending every waking hour doing what you love … Authentic shows how to do just that.

Authentic is a lifestyle book based on practical experience. Neil Crofts’ vision of a role allowing him to be true to himself and make a positive impact on the world around him convinced him to break out of a conventional, and highly successful, corporate career. Authentic is about giving others the courage to follow in Neil's footsteps.

Authentic is also about doing business with a profound positive purpose, and the fundamental advantages that this has over more conventional ways of doing business. It shows you how to have multi-dimensional success and everything you need by just being yourself.

Authentic, offers inspiration for individuals tired of career conformity. Neil Crofts shows how we arrive at a situation where many of us feel irrevocably tied to jobs we don’t enjoy. He demonstrates the steps you need to take to find out who you really are and what you want from life, and finally, he reveals how you can turn all that into a business that is Authentic to you.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Capstone; 1 edition (November 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841125199
• ISBN-13: 978-1841125190
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.5 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,768,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"I feel extremely fortunate. My life turns out to be very happy and peaceful. I have a wonderful wife and family, we live in a beautiful place and I love the work that I do."
By conventional standards my formal education was not a success. I spent most of my time very confused as to why I was there and what was expected of me.
The beauty of this education was that I was never taught how to think and I find one of the greatest strengths is to be able to question everything and think differently.

My real education was started by going motor racing. Three years of race driving, running the team, finding the money and preparing the car taught me a lot and left me in debt (a bit like university). I learned about management and motivation, organisation and planning, selling and media and fear, focus, flow and commitment. I still don't think I have had another flow experience like the last 2 hours of a 24 hour race that I did.

After I lost my first "proper" job I bought my first Apple Mac and set up my first business.
The Mac was amazing, I chose it because I felt that I would not have to learn to use a computer in those pre-Windows days. The Mac allowed me to communicate in writing for the first time and this was a huge liberation.
After a few bumpy years of experience that involved starting, running and selling a business, venture capital, jobs and more I got a job with a little web design company near London Bridge called CHBi. The atmosphere and energy of this place were entirely different to anything I had experienced, there was passion, idealism and energy. This group of people, together with the internet, were going to change the world. I loved it.
Over 2 years the 16 person company I had joined transformed into Razorfish, one of the largest and certainly the coolest web design company that flourished briefly during what became known as the dot com boom.
When the party was over I had a few months off while I worked out what to do and turned the rest of my life upside down as well, I also cycled over the Pyrenees.
I moved out of London to Bath and one day I was in our sitting room flicking through a couple of business magazines and wondering why I never read them.

I realised that it was because the magazines were about businesses that were simply for profit and that I did not find that inspiring. No wonder I had so often felt uncomfortable in those meetings. I realised that I wanted to read a magazine that wrote about inspiring businesses that existed for more than just profit.
After a few seconds of research I realised that such a magazine did not exist and that I would have to start one. It was in this moment that the term and the concept of authentic business came to me as both a personal and a global solution to the issues we face.
That was in December 2001. Since then the concept and my ability to articulate it has evolved into my work on authentic business and authentic leadership and some amazing work with equally amazing clients.
In September 2007 we moved to Mallorca where I had already been running the Authentic Transformation events. My wife Benedicte and I live near the sea with our children Minnie and Casper.

Neil Crofts, February 2011.

Profile

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Positive and Uplifting Book!, December 30, 2003

By 

Robert Best (Northumberland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Authentic: How to Make a Living By Being Yourself (Paperback)

This splendid book is exactly what is needed right now!

It's an antidote to the current corporate paradigm of greed and exploitation in which YOU, the manual worker, the office worker, the contractor, the shop assitant, whatever, are being openly exploited to line the pockets of the few? Wasn't it always so? Since the Industrial Revolution, yes. But not 'always', by any means! The way corporates over-work and under-pay their employees today, along with the way advertisers try and extract maximum cash from your pocket, and the way the banks and house developers keep property moving ever upwards, taking increasing amounts of your hard-earned on living costs, all come together to create the modern version of indentured slavery.

And it's not just you that's being exploited - it's the planet, too. Finite natural resources are being taken without any thought for future generations, and previously pristine environments are being despoiled for short-term gain. The whole house of cards is simply not sustainable.

In 'Authentic', Mr Crofts offers an alternative vision; one in which YOU follow your heart. YOU narrow the gap between who you are and what you do. YOU start to make active choices, rather than just going along with what everyone else is doing. He offers a route out of disfunctionality, out of slavery, and a way to recognise embedded patterns of out-dated behaviour and actively change them for something more useful, more heartfelt, more...Authentic!

If you think there's more to life than working 60 hours a week to pay bills and the mortgage and buy more stuff - you're right! If you want a helping hand to get out of this destructive pattern into a more peaceful, productive, happier place, 'Authentic' is it.

But be warned - reading the book is not enough! You have to put some of the ideas into practice, too, in order to set yourself truly free.

1.0 out of 5 stars Big title, little content, October 19, 2011

By 

queenanne805 (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Authentic: How to Make a Living By Being Yourself (Paperback)

This is a fast read, but that's not a positive review for a book that is tackling a pretty heavy topic. It comes across as the writer's ramblings on his own path to starting his own business. He never actually guides you through any process that's going to lead to a greater awareness or understanding of your own at the end. He doesn't even explain his own process with enough detail to glean anything by observation. The hard part about what he describes is not going out a starting a business, but rather discovering what type of business is a good match for who you really are, what your talents are. He completely leaves that process of self-discovery a mystery, besides a passing reference to therapy. It was worth the hour I spent with it, just to get my mind thinking about some points he raises, but I would not suggest buying this book.