Embracing Authenticity in the Corporate World: Why Being Yourself Matters
In the fast-paced and often rigid corporate world, it’s easy to feel like you’re constantly being asked to fit into a mold that doesn’t quite align with who you are. Every company has its culture, its expectations, and its “unwritten rules,” but what happens when those expectations clash with your authentic self ? Should you conform to get ahead, or should you take a stand and be true to who you are?
As someone who’s worked through this challenge at various points in my career, I can tell you that the decision to stay authentic, while navigating the professional world, isn’t always easy. But here’s the good news: you can be successful while staying true to yourself. In fact, doing so is often the key to long-term fulfillment and genuine leadership.
Let me take you through a personal story that helped me understand how to balance authenticity with the realities of the corporate world.
A Personal Story: The Makeup Dilemma
Several years ago, I came across a piece of advice that really stuck with me: “Women who don’t wear makeup don’t get promoted.” I honestly don’t even know if this is true or not, but at the time, it really got under my skin. The implication was clear—there were certain “standards” you had to meet in order to be seen as professional, worthy of promotion, or even just respected in a corporate setting.
Now, full disclosure: I’ve never liked wearing makeup. It always felt like an extra step I didn’t have the energy for, and it wasn’t something that made me feel more “me.” But, in that moment, I weighed the risk versus reward. If wearing makeup was something that could help me avoid a potential barrier to my career growth—no matter how small or seemingly superficial—I decided to embrace it. So, I started wearing light makeup. Even today, when I’m in a professional setting, you’ll usually see me with a little bit of makeup on. But that was just the start of my internal conflict. .
The “Polished” Paradox
Around the same time, I started hearing a lot of chatter in my organization about how senior leaders were all “polished.” Over and over again, I heard people describe colleagues and executives as “polished”—their speech was polished, their style was polished, their approach to leadership was, you guessed it, polished. It became increasingly clear to me that if you wanted to climb the corporate ladder, you needed to be polished, too.
There was just one problem: I’m not polished.
Sure, I have my strengths, my intuition, and my authentic approach to leadership, but “polished” has never been one of my natural traits. I don’t rehearse every word I say before I speak; I prefer to keep things fresh, engaging, and authentic. I like to bring energy and fun into my work environment, not to be stuck in a rigid, cookie-cutter mold of what a leader is “supposed” to look like.
At this crossroads, I had to make a choice: conform to what I thought was expected of me in order to be seen as a “senior leader,” or embrace who I truly am, even if it meant not fitting the traditional image of a polished executive.
In the end, I chose authenticity. I realized that the “polished” version of leadership wasn’t for me. What I could offer—what I should offer—was my energy, my passion, and my ability to create a workplace that values engagement and joy, not just perfection.
Making the Choice: Authenticity vs. Expectations
This experience taught me an invaluable lesson about leadership: in order to be truly successful, I needed to be myself. And this is where the journey of authenticity gets tricky. It’s not about rejecting the corporate world entirely or ignoring the norms and expectations of your industry; it’s about understanding which parts you can adopt in a way that still honors your true self.
For me, wearing makeup in a professional setting was a small compromise I made to avoid unnecessary barriers. But when it came to leadership style, I knew I didn’t have to be the polished, perfect leader others expected. Instead, I embraced what came naturally to me—authenticity, intuition, energy, and fun. Those are the qualities I wanted to be remembered for, not the appearance of being “polished.”
That’s what I want to emphasize to you: you don’t have to choose between success and being true to yourself. You can have both.
How to Navigate This Journey
The key to navigating the tension between authenticity and corporate expectations lies in two steps:
- Awareness: The first step is becoming aware of the corporate culture and what the organization values. As a coach, I work with my clients to help them understand these dynamics so they can decide how to navigate them while remaining true to who they are. Awareness is crucial—without it, you won’t even know where the boundaries lie, and you might feel like you’re constantly compromising without understanding why.
- Choice: Once you’re aware, the next step is to make an intentional, authentic choice. What do you stand for? What are the aspects of yourself that you want to bring to the table? Embrace those qualities. Whether it’s your creativity, energy, authenticity, or something else, those are the strengths that will set you apart as a leader in a meaningful way.
As I discussed in a recent video, if you want to leave a lasting legacy, you need to know what you stand for. That starts with being yourself. After all, you can only be a true leader when you’re leading from a place of authenticity.
Final Thoughts
Every one of us faces this dilemma in the corporate world at some point: do we conform to what others expect, or do we risk stepping out and being our authentic selves? The choice isn’t always easy, and the path may not always be straightforward, but I can tell you this: staying true to yourself is worth it in the long run.
So, ask yourself: What kind of leader do you want to be? What do you stand for? How can you embrace your authentic self while still achieving your goals in the corporate world?
I hope this story helps you think about the importance of authenticity in your own career. If you’d like more guidance on how to define and embrace your authentic leadership style, feel free to reach out to me. I’m always here to help.
Simona Pappalardo is the Founder and President of “Coaching With Simona” – a
consulting company that helps overworked and overwhelmed managers become
confident leaders who create success for themselves, their teams, and their
organizations at large. Simona was formerly a Sr. Director at Whirlpool Corporation
and she has held several senior-level roles in the semiconductor, electronics, and
manufacturing industries, in the areas of Quality, Product Development and Supply
Chain Operations.
Copyright © 2024 – Coaching With Simona, LLC. Used with permission.