Especially as you grow tenure at an organization, it feels much easier and comfortable to bring your authentic self to work. But former Secret Agent Evy Poumpouras says that’s bad for business.
“Don’t bring your authentic self to work. I don’t want your authentic self to work. I want your professional self. I want your respectful self,” she recently told The Diary of a CEO podcast. “I want your empathetic self. I want your competent self. You can bring your authentic self to a Thanksgiving meal with your family if you’d like to.”
Poumpouras, a Queens, New York native, was a U.S. Secret Service special agent, polygraph examiner, and interrogator who served from 2000 to 2012, protecting U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and George H.W. Bush. She’s now a law enforcement and national security analyst, best-selling author of Becoming Bulletproof, and adjunct professor at the City University of New York.
“Could you imagine if I brought my authentic New York self to every interrogation I did?” she asked, recounting an interrogation from years ago in which she had to interview a 16-year-old boy who had allegedly assaulted a three-year-old little girl.
“What would my authentic self say? ‘What are you thinking? How could you? It’s a three-year old.’ No, I brought my professional self,” she said.
What mattered more in that moment was getting a confession, she said, so she could find out what happened so the little girl wouldn’t be victimized again. “‘Okay, tell me what happened. Tell me more,’” she recalled saying. “Non judgment. Poker face. You know why? Because what I think my authentic self is irrelevant.”
Poumpouras also argues bringing your authentic self to work puts the spotlight on one individual instead of prioritizing teamwork.
“Don’t come in and be phony. Nobody wants a phony. But [the] authentic self has become me, me, me, me, me. Everybody, check me out,” she said. “I was irrelevant. When you show up to work, wherever you work, [ask] what are you bringing to bring value to the whole team, because your authentic self could be ‘I’m bringing my problems, I’m bringing my opinions. I’m bringing my judgments.’”
“Honestly, nobody cares,” she added.
What other experts say about authenticity at work
In a Science of Personality podcast episode published this week, Ryne Sherman, chief science officer at Hogan Assessment Systems, also said authenticity at the workplace has its drawbacks.
“Bringing your authentic self to work could get you into trouble,” he said. It can cause professionalism problems, interpersonal conflict, and hinder career development, he added, giving the example of responding angrily by screaming, stomping, or sending a harshly worded email. While that behavior might feel authentic at the moment, it’s clearly unprofessional.
“When we resist doing those things, we are being inauthentic,” Sherman said. “We’re not responding in a way that is consistent with our true feelings.” But that’s a good thing, he added.
Other studies, however, show authenticity in the workplace can have its merits. Research by Cynthia S. Wang and other co-researchers at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, published in March, said authenticity at work can improve well-being, colleague relationships, and organizational commitment.
Wang found, though, this can be particularly difficult for marginalized and minority groups at work.
“What we’re talking about is actual authenticity—the ability to express yourself—which is slightly different from the idea of inclusion,” Wang said. “You can include somebody in a meeting, for example, but they still may not feel comfortable with being authentic and speaking up.”
Still, Poumpouras argues authenticity in the workplace inhibits high performance.
“You get sloppiness. Everybody’s doing their own thing,” she said. “That’s not a team.”
“If you’re team-oriented, you leave your authentic self here, and you bring your genuine self who genuinely cares about the mission, who genuinely cares to do a good job, who genuinely knows that it’s not about you, it’s about the collective team,” she added.
