Fake it to make it: Why authenticity is overrated

The corporate world and authenticity are having a moment, but bringing your ‘whole authentic self’ to work is rarely a good idea, psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic says.

“I always say my whole self is not even welcomed at home,” he told RNZ’s Afternoons.

What started as a well-meaning initiative to make work a more nourishing activity has morphed into something more sinister, he argues in his new book; Don't Be Yourself, Why Authenticity is Overrated.

“The authenticity cult is just another indicator or symptom of the narcissistic zeitgeist in which we live in,” Tomas who is a professor of business psychology at University College London (UCL) and an adjunct professor at Columbia University, says.

That cult originates in the big tech California, he says.  

“These are cultures that aren't very genuine or authentic, they are actually cultures that are very, very fake.

“They go hand in hand with faking it until you make it or managing impressions to a very, very high and sophisticated extent, whether it's social media, or the digital narcissism that we see in the AI world widely.”

The corporate diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging movement, while having honourable intentions, has nudged certain groups into behaviour that could harm them, he says.

“Basically, to just be themselves, to bring their whole self and to behave without any consideration for what others think of them.

“That would be nice, except inadvertently, it's really a way to throw the ball at them and put it on their court and actually ask them to do something for which they're probably going to pay a high price and high consequences.”

The reality is that in most organisations, conformity, not authenticity is rewarded, he says.

“The more you fit in with the status quo, the more you resemble the dominant majority, the more license you have to just be yourself.”

The authenticity that does matter is not how authentic you think you are, but how authentic other people think you are, he says.

“The research here is fascinating because it shows that people who are seen as authentic by others actually have high levels of emotional intelligence.

“They're very good at strategic impression management, and they manage to curate a professional version of themselves that is actually very socially skilled, very empathetic, that pays a lot of attention to how they impact other people, but they do it in a way that seems genuine.”

Self-awareness rather than authenticity is a more noble quality, he says.

“Self-awareness is the internalisation of how people see you. David Bowie has a great quote on this when he was asked, you know, who are you really, because he had all these different artistic personas.

And he said, ‘I am only the person the greatest number of people think I am’.”

That aligns with science, he says.

“We pay attention to others because meaning comes from others.

“From a very early age, our caregivers, our parents, our teachers, our friends…tell us you're good at this, you're bad at that. And that helps us align our self-esteem with our actual abilities.”

There are also some ancient wisdoms about the dangers of authenticity we should heed, he says.

“Whatever happened to smiling to your boss and bitching about them when you get home, this has worked for millennia.

“We shouldn't forget that it's a fundamental recipe for succeeding in work and life.”