We’ve all been told to just be yourself. But psychologist and author Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic—Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup and professor at UCL and Columbia—says that’s the worst advice you can take. In his new book, Don’t Be Yourself: Why Authenticity Is Overrated (and What to Do Instead), he reveals why our obsession with authenticity is holding us back—and what actually leads to success.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- Why “just being yourself” is often the worst professional advice you can receive
- The coffee drinker model for balancing your raw personality with social expectations
- How to use emotional intelligence as a strategic filter for better leadership
- Why high-performing leaders often act more like method actors than authentic versions of themselves
- How to navigate the tension between human authenticity and AI-generated content
Episode Chapters
- (00:00) Intro
- (01:21) The Myth of Objective Authenticity
- (02:50) Leaders as Method Actors
- (04:01) Comparing Personal and Restaurant Brands
- (05:53) The Rigidity of “Telling It Like It Is”
- (07:06) Understanding Authenticity Traps
- (10:11) Emotional Intelligence vs. Authenticity
- (13:22) The Coffee Drinker Model Explained
- (15:35) Adaptability in the Workplace
- (18:14) Cultural Differences in Authenticity
- (22:27) Authenticity in the Age of AI
- (26:43) Why Benetton Made Him Smile
About Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, a cofounder of Deeper Signals, and an associate at Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. He is the author of several books, including Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It), upon which his popular TEDx talk was based, and I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique.
What Brand Has Made Tomas Smile Recently?
Tomas recently found inspiration in the history of the Italian fashion brand Benetton. He was fascinated by the brand’s founder, Luciano Benetton, who pioneered fast fashion and used provocative, moral-driven advertising campaigns to address diversity and inclusion long before they were mainstream corporate pillars.
Resources & Links
- Connect with Tomas on LinkedIn.
- Check out his book, Don’t Be Yourself, the Manpower website, and his own Dr. Tomas website.
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Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!
