“Just be yourself” may be an oft-given piece of advice, but it won’t take you in the right direction as a workplace leader, one psychology of business professor argues.
Chamorro-Premuzic takes the argument against workplace authenticity in a different direction. It’s not about separating the personal from professional; it’s about identifying strategies that make you better at leading in your workplace.
“Even if feeling authentic feels great, you are more likely to become an effective leader if you focus on gratifying others and adjusting your behavior according to what the situation demands,” Chamorro-Premuzic said. “So, it’s not authenticity, but knowing where the right to be you ends and your obligation to others begins, that makes you effective in work settings.”
Though empirical research backs up Chamorro-Premuzic’s thoughts around prioritizing adapting to others versus feeling good about one’s own values, he concedes it’s not an intuitive shift. To better understand why authenticity should be decentralized in the workplace, it’s best to consider how that authenticity may be perceived by others, he said: While you may see making a crass joke as showing teammates your sense of humor, the reality is you may develop a workplace reputation as being insensitive. If you overshare what’s happening in your personal life, it can wear away employees’ belief in your ability to lead clear-headedly.
“To navigate this intricate balance effectively, you need to harness the necessary psychological maturity to recognize that just because you feel like saying something does not mean you should,” Chamorro-Premuzic said.
Many leaders are already making these small decisions daily in what they post on social media, send in emails, or discuss around the water cooler. But these small decisions aren’t actually a disingenuous way of leading, Chamorro-Premuzic noted. It’s a way of developing an intuition that people may see as its own form of authenticity.
“The irony, then, is that by disciplining or editing our authenticity, we may actually come across as more trustworthy and competent to others,” he said.
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on Oct. 9, 2025.
