Bring Your Whole Self?
“Bring your whole self to work.” This is a popular one. So what about it? Let’s take a look.
What does it mean to literally bring your whole self to work? Making every aspect of you extremely present in the workplace, even those that are unrelated to work? This is often how it’s interpreted. Unfortunately, that interpretation, unquestioned, is a blank cheque for narcissism.
The point is, the workplace is the workplace, and what it needs from you is your skills and attitude towards work. It’s OK to bring your whole self (what else could you possibly do?), but keep in mind the workplace isn’t your stage for everything there is about you. It’s not for political activism, pushing a personal agenda, or putting up a me-show.
You deserve to be respected for who you are, and you deserve a harassment-free workplace. But it’s not all about you, or about all of you.
Tags: work