Authenticity is everywhere right now. Be yourself. Bring your whole self to work. Lead authentically. And yet, many managers quietly ask a different question: Is that always wise? Many employees ask another: How much of myself is actually safe to show?
Here’s the reality. Authenticity isn’t a switch you turn on. It isn’t all or nothing. And it certainly isn’t about being unfiltered in every situation.
Done well, authenticity strengthens trust, relationships, and performance. Done badly, it can undermine credibility, overwhelm others or blur boundaries. The difference comes down to self-awareness, context, and intention.
Being unfiltered isn’t the goal
Let’s clear something up early. Authenticity does not mean saying everything you think or feel in every moment. Think of it as the difference between the truth and the whole truth.
Authenticity means that what you do share is genuinely you: your values, perspectives, and intentions. It doesn’t mean oversharing, emotional dumping, or justifying poor behaviour with “that’s just who I am.”
“I’m just being authentic” is not a license to be abrupt, dismissive, or unkind.
Real authenticity is self-awareness in action. It’s knowing what’s happening inside you, understanding your impact on others, and choosing how you show up. It’s reading the situation and responding thoughtfully, not impulsively. Sometimes that means sharing more. Sometimes it means sharing less.
Why authenticity can feel risky at work
Most people don’t arrive at work as their unguarded selves. They arrive wearing a version of themselves shaped over time. From early life onwards, we learn what gets approval, what attracts criticism, and what feels risky. Layers build up; beliefs, labels, expectations, coping strategies. To stay safe, we develop different “masks” for different situations. At work, this often becomes a professional mask.
People hide uncertainty. Tone themselves down. Hold back opinions. Not because they’re inauthentic people but because they’re navigating safety, power, and belonging. This is true for junior employees and senior leaders alike.
Authenticity looks different depending on where you sit
For employees, especially those earlier in their careers, authenticity often feels tied to risk. “Should I challenge this decision? Can I admit I don’t understand? Will sharing this change how I’m seen?”
In hierarchical or high-pressure environments, caution can feel sensible.
For leaders, the challenge is different. Many worry that authenticity means vulnerability, and that vulnerability means weakness. They fear losing authority, credibility, or control.
But authentic leadership isn’t about overexposure. It’s about alignment.
A leader who says, “I don’t have all the answers yet, but here’s how we’ll work this out together,” isn’t undermining authority. They’re modelling clarity, honesty, and confidence.
When it’s wise to hold back
Yes, there are times when holding back is the right call. Context matters. Audience matters. Power dynamics matter.
For example, in a crisis, people often need steadiness more than emotional processing. In cross-cultural settings, expectations around disclosure can vary widely. And in environments where safety hasn’t yet been established, choosing what to share and what to hold back can be a sensible form of self-protection.
Authenticity doesn’t mean ignoring these realities. It means staying true to your values while adapting how you express them. A useful question to pause with is: “What’s my intention here, and what’s likely to help this situation?”
Respecting privacy and choice
Not everyone wants to bring their full personal story to work, and that’s okay. Personality, culture, past experiences, and boundaries all shape how much people choose to share. Some people are open books. Others are private. Neither is right or wrong.
The role of leadership isn’t to push disclosure. It’s to create an environment where authenticity feels possible for those who choose it. Pressure to “bring your whole self” can feel just as unsafe as pressure to conform.
A practical way to think about the Authentic Self
In my work, I describe the Authentic Self as the core of who you are, beneath the layers you’ve accumulated over time. What colleagues usually experience isn’t that core. They experience your identity: the outer layer shaped by roles, labels, expectations, and habits.
Authenticity at work isn’t about stripping away every layer. It’s about reducing unnecessary ones. As self-awareness grows, people gain choice in what to share, when to share it, and with whom. Authenticity becomes sustainable when people have choice, not pressure.
The Authentic Self framework: what leaders need to understand
When organisations talk about authenticity, they often focus on behaviours: how people communicate, collaborate, or show up in meetings. But authenticity doesn’t start there.
It starts with the individual.
In our work with organisations, we begin by helping leaders understand one simple truth: if someone doesn’t feel safe within themselves, they won’t feel safe showing up authentically with others. No amount of team norms or leadership messaging can override that.
Our Authentic Self framework focuses on three core dimensions. Each one builds on the last. Skip the first, and everything that follows becomes fragile.
Dimension 1: Raise - understand what’s really driving behaviour
Before asking people to “be more authentic,” leaders need to recognise what actually affects performance and behaviour at work. This includes unspoken expectations and pressure, fear of judgement or getting it wrong, old experiences that still influence confidence, limiting beliefs about capability or belonging, and triggers that cause people to withdraw, over-explain, or go quiet.
From the outside, this can look like disengagement, defensiveness, or resistance to change. In reality, it’s often self-protection. Leaders don’t need to diagnose this. But they do need to create space for awareness, rather than assuming a poor attitude or a lack of capability.
The question to ask: What affects my performance and behaviour at work?
Dimension 2: Release - help people regain control, not suppress themselves
Once people understand what affects them, the next step is learning how to take back control of those influences. This is where many workplaces go wrong. Instead of supporting change, they expect people to simply “manage themselves better” or “be more resilient.”
What actually helps is normalising emotional regulation as a leadership skill. Reducing blame and defensiveness in conversations. Encouraging reflection rather than reaction. Supporting people to challenge unhelpful patterns instead of repeating them.
This isn’t about fixing people. It’s about removing what’s getting in the way of good judgement, clear thinking, and confident contribution. When people regain control over their responses, authenticity stops feeling risky and starts feeling natural.
The question to ask: How can I take back control of the things that affect my performance and behaviour at work?
Dimension 3: Reconnect - link authenticity to performance and goals
Authenticity on its own isn’t the end goal. Performance is. Once people feel more grounded and in control, they can reconnect with what they’re working towards, personally and professionally.
For leaders, this means helping people to clarify what “good work” looks like for them. Set boundaries that protect focus and energy. Make decisions aligned with their values and strengths. Take ownership of their development and contribution.
This is where authenticity becomes an asset, not a liability. People stop performing a role and start leading themselves within it.
The question to ask: What can I do to achieve my personal and professional goals at work?
Why this matters for leaders
Authenticity doesn’t appear because leaders encourage it. It appears when people feel safe enough, internally and externally, to show up without armour. When leaders understand these three dimensions, they stop pushing for behaviour change and start creating the conditions for it. That’s when authenticity strengthens relationships, decision-making, and performance - without forcing disclosure or crossing boundaries.
Is authenticity overrated?
No. But it is misunderstood. Authenticity isn’t about saying everything. It’s about being real, intentional, and aligned - with yourself and with the situation you’re in.
Sometimes that means leaning in. Sometimes it means holding back. And sometimes it means choosing not to share, and knowing that’s okay. The goal isn’t to force authenticity. It’s to create workplaces where it can emerge naturally, when and how people choose.
That’s where trust grows. That’s where relationships strengthen. And that’s where people and organisations do their best work.
