The Broad Experience 47: Authenticity vs. conformity

The Broad Experience

Careers, Society & Culture, Business

5.0 • 592 Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2014

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

'Authenticity' is a buzzword that crops up a lot in articles about the workplace. We're all meant to be in an era where we can 'be ourselves' at work. But how realistic a goal is that for women really? In this show I speak to author and speaker Sylvia Ann Hewlett, whose most recent book is Executive Presence. Sylvia says women have to find the right balance of being themselves and having the perfect combination of gravitas, communication skills and appearance to be considered for leadership positions. She talks about how to pull that off. Lauren Tucker leads her own division at an ad agency, but she says meshing her forthright personality with the workplace is no picnic, even at her level. And why should she even have to try?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Broad Experience, the show about women, the workplace and success.
0:06.4	I'm Ashley Milne Tite. This time on the show, how authentic can you be at work?
0:12.3	Many women tell me that they didn't want to sacrifice their strengths, but they did need to sugarcoat it with humor, with charm, with warmth.
0:23.2	Otherwise, they become unlikable.
0:26.8	And we hear from someone who's frustrated at having to curb her personality in front of colleagues.
0:32.5	Those same people will then say, you know, Lauren, you're so smart, but, you know, that's kind of intimidating.
0:39.1	So maybe we should get one of your people to talk about this because it'll make people feel
0:45.4	more comfortable.
0:46.9	Coming up, perception versus reality at the office.
0:50.8	But first, a word from our sponsor.
0:53.2	This episode of the Broad Experience is brought to you by Foreign Affairs, the best resource for authoritative analysis on important global issues.
1:01.7	I particularly enjoyed a recent article on India's social and sexual revolution and how that's contributing to the number of assaults on women there.
1:09.9	And their recent piece on the women of
1:11.4	ISIS is a really interesting look at why some women fight for a movement that oppresses them.
1:17.0	Foreign Affairs is offering me a special low rate for my listeners, only $19.95 for an entire year.
1:24.0	Subscribers also get an exciting new product that just launched, audio editions created in a partnership with audible.com.
1:30.9	You can listen to the latest issue online or on the go by downloading it
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1:37.2	To take advantage of their offer, go to foreign affairs.com forward slash broad.
1:52.4	Music dot com forward slash broad. Now depending on how long you've been in the workplace, you may have noticed there are
1:56.0	written rules and there are unwritten rules.
1:58.7	And one of the unwritten rules is that to become any kind of leader, you have to look and act the part.
	...

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