How the technical mind processes the authenticity paradox.
Act 1, Scene 3 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Polonius, father of Ophelia and Laertes, offers this advice to his son:
"This above all; to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."
How often have we heard, “Just be yourself,” or, “It’s not you; it’s the environment you’re in”? When you find yourself in a setting that forces you to alter how you see yourself, internal conflicts can arise. Professor Herminia Ibarra explores this in her 2015 paper, The Authenticity Paradox, emphasizing how leaders need to fluidly navigate corporate waters while maintaining their authenticity. While I agree with the importance of “reading the room,” I argue that this concept is not exclusive to leaders; all of us, consciously or not, wear masks that shift with our environment.
Even in Shakespeare’s time, the "authenticity paradox" was present, though it remained unnamed. The complex interplay between identity and truth has long puzzled Stoics, poets, and scientists alike. Musicians across genres have wrestled with this struggle, offering various perspectives:
Psychologist Dr. Mark Snyder (University of Minnesota) identifies two psychological profiles often seen in leaders but relevant across all societal levels, as even individual contributors lead in some form. In The Psychology of Self-Monitoring, he describes:
It’s easy to see how these categories can be too rigid. How can anyone be “true to self” when circumstances require a shift in presentation? A “true-to-selfer” must have a high degree of self-awareness to remain genuine in all situations, just as a high self-monitor can stay authentic while adapting. The difference lies in personal awareness and emotional intelligence. This is where The Authenticity Paradox enters.
Authenticity is both a truth and a deception. It reflects our inner check-in process, our moral compass, balancing who we are with who we need to be seen as. At times, these aspects won’t align, leading to feelings of being a "sellout" or an imposter—though not to be confused with imposter syndrome, where your sense of self is disconnected from your capabilities.
The paradox of authenticity implies both an "authentic" and an "inauthentic" self. The term itself means “acting on one’s own authority.” Only you can distinguish between your true and inauthentic selves. Imagine authenticity as a silhouette, not a shadow: a shadow envies the light of your true self, while a silhouette embraces its place among the crowd, where alternative versions of your authenticity thrive.
Mastering the fluidity between these selves will define whether you are immediately accepted or spend years rebuilding your personal brand. Do not anchor yourself to who you were; doing so may hinder your evolution into who you will become. Those who cannot grow with you will notice how you’ve changed, not how they’ve remained the same.
Your fundamental self will always be the intangible essence others perceive as "authentic." As my father once said, it is like the roots of tall wheat: firm and confident, yet flexible enough to sway in the winds of change.
Khalil Gonsalves
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Etymology?
Stemming from the Greek autos for “self” and hentes for “doer, being.” Hentes stemming from root of *sene- being to accomplish, achieve. Then compounded into the Greecian word authentes which refers to “one acting on one’s own authority.”?
Authentes then further evolves in interpretation to its modern definition of:
1: not false or imitaion : real, actual
2: true to one's own personality, spirit, or character
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-ity is added to authentic and is a word-forming element that converts the adjective of authentic into an abstract noun. This evolves the word into “a condition or quality of being” attributed to the person that is identified as embodying an authentic nature.
Stemming from the Greek paradoxon referring to an incredible statement or opinion it is adopted by the Latin where the meaning changes. In Latin a paradoxum is a statement seemingly absurd, yet true nonetheless. By the time the French include it in their vocabulary it represents a statement which is contrary to common belief or expectation.
Paradox as commonly accepted is by definition still true to truth but commonly interpreted as a contradiction more so than an almost unbelievable fact.
1: one (such as a person, situation, or action) having seemingly contradictory qualities or phases
2a: a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true
2b: a self-contradictory statement that at first seems true
2c: an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises
Stemming from the root of *meue- which means “to push away” it then finds a supportive meaning in Latin where it becomes emovere meaning “to move out or agitate.” As the usage of this word moves through Europe we find the French spelling émotion with the same meaning. The etymology of Emotion is not one where there is a clear linguistic structure that highlights this word as one that encapsulates the qualities of happiness, sadness, anger, etc. in a generic categorization.?
Emotion as commonly accepted is the way to generalize the observation of a uniquely human characteristic of pushing out one's internal experience in a way that other humans can empathize with.
1a: a conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body
1b: a state of feeling
1c: the affective aspect of consciousness : feeling
2a: excitement
b: obsolete : dusturbance
Mental Jiu-Jitsu
In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu there is a universal saying “Position before submission.” You have to have everything in place, then you have to review. Once all this is done you should only need to apply incremental pressure to secure a victory. There is a simple system for verifying if you’ve secured the position and can start to apply pressure.?
G.A.P - Grips, Angle, Position.
Grips means that you are in control of not only your ability to create and remove space but that you have completely taken away your opponent's ability to do the same. It would be easy to assume that creating or removing space is the same as movement; that observation is wrong - they are not the same. Someone may be moving a lot, but they don’t have the capacity to change their situation. They don’t have the grip.
Angle. When you have the right angle you can see or feel your opponent's next move before it starts. If you lose your grips you must accept that the angle is gone too. To the spectator it seems like a missed opportunity even if it appears to them that nothing has changed. Reestablishing the grips and the angle allows you to confidently decide if or when to move into position.?
Positioning to apply the technique comes around when the grips and angle are secured. In the moment of active movement when neither angels nor grips are compromised by movement you are “riding the wave.” The direction is completely under your control. Incrementally you will apply pressure or technique until you’ve decided to release it, or not.
Authenticity is the opponent. Controlling how you perceive yourself is how you implement the GAP strategy for the context you need. Your “true-to-self” persona will keep the “high self-monitoring” one in check, and vise-versa. Call it the moment where for a fraction of a second your authentic self says, “wait, this isn’t me” and you hear it. It’s shocking because this isn’t you in the moment, not the core version of you at least.
DoD SA Senior Manager at Elastic
5 个月As a manager I notice that basically everyone I work with deals with imposter syndrome. A full 360 view of it all around. Is your theory that the way to reduce imposter syndrome is to allow one’s authentic self out and be as close to one’s outward self as possible? That is an interesting idea that I may agree with. Interesting …and any blog post with a deep cut Fugee’s song reference is always a good thing