Resilient Seeker Coaching | Ross Raymond Nunamaker

I recently read an article in Fast Company which gave four reasons why authenticity is overrated.

Beginning at the End

“Navigating professional environments effectively means knowing when to be genuine and when to engage in skillful and ethical deception to manage impressions and develop a reputation for being kind, caring and not too authentic.”

Fundamentally, the advice is to be genuine when it helps and lie to fill in gaps to make you appear to be kind and caring in the eyes of your colleagues.

Not me, but I’m not surprised.

Ethical Deception

I’m particularly intrigued by the term “ethical deception.” Surprisingly, this is an actual thing, but it is specific to scientific research and there are many caveats regarding its usage and disclosure.

Outside of this usage, any other usage is called lying.

Summary of Four Points Made

The four points are in summary:

• Deception serves a practical purpose and we lie to ourselves all the time anyway,
• It doesn’t matter if you are authentic, only that others think you are,
• Blindly following your heart and personal values can create friction in the workplace, and
• The myth of “bring the unfiltered you to work” is damaging.

This is a rather pessimistic view of the work place and people in general.

My Takeaway

No single person is flawless, but working to be a better person is a very positive thing to do. It is probably harder to do than lying, but there is greater satisfaction as well.

Being authentic was not defined in the article. I think people can be authentic and not share every detail of their life and every opinion they hold. They also don’t have to be fully transparent about everything and anything. 

I’m perfectly good with not engaging in certain topics if they are private for me and don’t need to be shared. Does this make me less authentic? No, it tells you about me. 

What the author really means:

“Manipulating professional environments means knowing how to advertise the good things you’ve done and when to tell carefully crafted lies that present you in a favorable light to develop a reputation for being kind, caring, and not too authentic.”

I know many people can live with this, and they do what they think they must to get ahead, but let’s just call a spade a spade and not try putting lipstick on the pig.