Being Authentic Isn't Enough. You Have to Be Convicted About It.

For many years, I believed the answer was authenticity. Be who you are. Bring your whole self to work. If people could simply be themselves, they would do their best work.

I still believe authenticity matters. But I have to admit something: I was wrong to think it was enough.

What I learned is that you can be authentic and still not be convicted enough to practice it every single day. And without that conviction, authenticity slowly erodes.

Authentic in One Room, Someone Else in the Next

Think about your own week. There are probably rooms where you feel completely like yourself. Your team. A trusted peer. A mentor who knows your story. And there are other rooms where you quietly adjust. The executive meeting. The board presentation. The client who seems to expect someone else.

Most of us are authentic in some rooms and not in others. And here is what happens over time. If you aren't convicted about who you are and what you stand for, the rooms where you adjust begin to outnumber the rooms where you don't. Little by little, the adjusted version becomes the default. You stop being convicted about your own identity, and you don't even notice it happening.

Conviction Is a Bet You Place

I don't believe conviction is something you are born with. I believe you earn it by placing a bet: that your identity can add value in any room you are in.

That bet is uncomfortable, because it might not pay off right away. But if you never place it, the only thing that will give you value is how your title makes people perceive you. And when your value comes from your title, the institution is defining you, rather than the other way around. As I've written, it's critical to define yourself before your title does.

When enough people make this trade, organizations end up without the right people in the right rooms. The person with the idea that could change the outcome is present, but performing a version of themselves that keeps the idea hidden.

It Costs More Than You

There is another reason this matters. When you aren't being yourself, it doesn't only cost you. It costs everyone you lead.

When a leader performs, the people around them learn to perform too. They read the signal that the real version of you isn't welcome here, and they conclude the real version of them probably isn't either. A leader who isn't convicted about who they are creates an environment where it becomes very difficult for anyone else to be.

If People Judge You, Reintroduce Yourself

Here is the part that is hardest for many people to hear. If people judge you, it is often because they don't know you. It is not because you've done something wrong.

When that happens, treat it as an opportunity to reintroduce yourself.

I was leading a conversation recently when the executive hosting it said something that stuck with me. When she heard the word reintroduce, she thought: I'm not the same person I was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, maybe even two years ago. She was right. We are all continuously evolving. We learn new things. We change our approach.

But the people around us often still see the version of us they met years ago. And if people don't know how you're evolving over time, that's on you. It is not somebody else's responsibility.

I used to think it was. Then I came to learn that it is our job as individuals to create, recreate and continue to earn the respect of the relationships we have.

How to Practice Conviction Every Day

Map your rooms. List the settings where you feel fully yourself and the ones where you adjust. Be honest about the gap.

Choose one room to close the gap. Pick a single meeting this week where you'll share the idea you would normally hold back.

Reintroduce yourself to one person. Tell a colleague or leader how your thinking has evolved: what you now know, what you care about, what you solve for.

Separate judgment from wrongdoing. When someone misreads you, ask whether they actually know you. Often, the answer is the opportunity.

None of this requires you to become someone new. It requires you to stop letting the room decide who you are. It's the same reason I encourage people to stop asking permission to be yourself at work.

From Authentic to Unshakable

Authenticity is a starting point. It tells you who you are. Conviction is what lets you stay that person when the room shifts, the stakes rise or someone misreads you.

We are living in what I believe is the most opportunistic time in modern history. The people who will seize it are not the ones who are authentic when it's comfortable. They are the ones who are convicted enough to be themselves in every room.

Want to explore these ideas further? Learn more about my work on leadership, identity and conviction at www.theglennllopis.com.