Authenticity is a much lauded personality trait in today’ s world. But really how authentic can you be at work? You might be told to‘ be yourself’ but the reality of that might not be deemed acceptable in the workplace. Angela Cox, Master Executive Coach and Founder of Paseda360 Coach Training Academy, discusses the unwritten rules in the world of work around authenticity and credibility.

Most of that learning starts long before work.

At school, uniform is checked at the door, shirts tucked in, shoes polished, skirts the right length, ties worn correctly, all presented as discipline, as standards, as preparation for the world beyond the classroom, and for many it becomes exactly that.

A training ground for compliance that is carried, often without question, into adult life.

Some push against it, but even that happens within an awareness that there are rules to push against and that stepping outside of them comes with consequence.

People rarely need to be told. They learn through observation, through reaction, through the small and consistent signals that shape how a room operates, and over time those signals become clear enough that adjustment feels both natural and necessary.

By the time people arrive in professional environments, the mechanism is already familiar.

You look around, read the room and work out quickly what fits, what is worn, how people speak, what gets approval and what is quietly shut down,

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