Authenticity Identity And Being Yourself At Work – Harvard Business Review (1)

The rest of us are called upon to perform what psychologists call emotional labor—the effort it takes to keep your professional game face on when what you’re doing does not align with how you feel. We do this outside the office too (making polite chitchat in the elevator when you’re feeling tired and surly comes to mind), but it is perhaps more important at work because most of us are there many hours per week, and our professional images and livelihoods depend on how we come across.

Say, for example, your boss makes a meant-to-be-inspiring comment about doing more with less, and you smile and nod, but what you’d like to do is upend the conference table. Or a customer talks down to you about the poor service she says she received, and you’re unfailingly polite and solicitous even though you resent being patronized. Or perhaps you simply had a bad night’s sleep, yet you push yourself to remain energetic and upbeat because you’ve been told—more times than you care to count—that “great” leaders bring positivity and inspiration to their teams.

Emotional labor is a near universal part of every job, and of life; often it’s just called being polite. But how one acts makes a meaningful difference. A person can deep act in a way that is still connected to their core values and beliefs at work (“Yes, the customer is being patronizing, but I empathize with her and care about solving her problem”) or surface act by faking or suppressing their emotions (“I’ll be nice here, but deep down I’m really spitting nails”).

Research shows that the tendency to engage in this latter aspect of emotional labor—surface acting, in which there is a high level of incongruity between what people feel and what they show—comes with real costs to the person and the organization. When people habitually feel the stress of surface acting, they’re more prone to depression, anxiety, decreased job performance, and burnout.

This has an effect on others, too: Leaders who surface act at work are more likely to be abusive to their employees by belittling them and invading their privacy, for example. And job stress can spill over into home life.

HBR Work Smart Series Rise faster with quick reads, real stories, and expert advice. It’s not easy to navigate the world of work when you’re exploring who you are and what you want in life. How do you translate your interests, skills, and education into building a career you love? The HBR Work Smart Series features the topics that matter to you most in your early career, including being yourself at work, collaborating with (sometimes difficult) colleagues and bosses, managing your mental health, and weighing major job decisions.

Each title includes chapter recaps and links to video, audio, and more. The HBR Work Smart books are your practical guides to stepping into your professional life and moving forward with confidence. Books in the series include: Authenticity, Identity, and Being Yourself at Work Bosses, Coworkers, and Building Great Work Relationships Boundaries, Priorities, and Finding Work-Life Balance Experience, Opportunity, and Developing Your Career 1kitap1.com/en 1kitap1.com/en HBR Press Quantity Sales Discounts Harvard Business Review Press titles are available at significant quantity discounts when purchased in bulk for client gifts, sales promotions, and premiums.

Special editions, including books with corporate logos, customized covers, and letters from the company or CEO printed in the front matter, as well as excerpts of existing books, can also be created in large quantities for special needs. For details and discount information for both print and ebook formats, contact [email protected], tel. 800-988-0886, or www.hbr.org/bulksales. Copyright 2024 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher.

Requests for permission should be directed to [email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but may be subject to change. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Title: Authenticity, identity, and being yourself at work. Description: Boston, Massachusetts : Harvard Business Review Press, [2024] | Series: HBR work smart series Identifiers: LCCN 2023048549 (print) | LCCN 2023048550 (ebook) | ISBN 9781647827021 (paperback) | ISBN 9781647827038 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Honesty in the workplace.

| Self-disclosure. | Authenticity (Philosophy) | Communication in organizations. | Corporate culture. | Work environment. Classification: LCC HF5549.5.H66 A984 2024 (print) | LCC HF5549.5.H66 (ebook) | DDC 650.1— dc23/eng/20231228 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023048549 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023048550 ISBN: 978-1-64782-702-1 eISBN: 978-1-64782-703-8 1kitap1.com/en CONTENTS Introduction: Authenticity and the Power of You You are the sum of all your parts.

Honor them. by Madison Butler SECTION 1 Understanding the Authentic You 1. Getting Comfortable Being Yourself at Work It’s easier said than done. by Lan Nguyen Chaplin 2. How to Find, Define, and Use Your Values They should reflect the most important aspects of your life.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

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• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 4,301,359 bytes (4.102 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781647827021, 9781647827038
• Pages: 138
• Language: English (en)

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