Herminia Ibarra has a sensational article in the Harvard Business Review. In principle it’s about ‘leadership authenticity’ but much of the discussion and advice applies to anyone who has ambitions at work. I found the whole thing incredibly provoking, as often it laid out feelings I have been unable to articulate to myself. I could have quoted several whole paragraphs, but this is as good a summary as any:

“Leadership growth usually involves a shift from having good ideas to pitching them to diverse stakeholders. Inexperienced leaders, especially true-to-selfers, often find the process of getting buy-in distasteful because it feels artificial and political; they believe that their work should stand on its own merits.”

The common thread of the article is that, if you believe your performance at work will be enough alone to get you promoted, you won’t be. I think many people (myself included) feel disdainful of those they perceive as ‘all talk, no substance’. It is clear though that, however “artificial and political” it may feel, there is nothing wrong with self-promotion, even if it requires ‘playing the game’.

Ibrarra puts it succinctly:

“Until we see career advancement as a way of extending our reach and increasing our impact in the organization—a collective win, not just a selfish pursuit—we have trouble feeling authentic when touting our strengths to influential people. True-to-selfers find it particularly hard to sell themselves to senior management when they most need to do so: when they are still unproven.”

Learning to adapt to different situations at work (Ibarra’s phrase is being a ‘chameleon’) may feel uncomfortable, especially at first, but it is entirely necessary.

Here’s one final (long) quote:

“I observed the importance of this approach in a study of investment bankers and consultants who were advancing from analytical and project work to roles advising clients and selling new business. Though most of them felt incompetent and insecure in their new positions, the chameleons among them consciously borrowed styles and tactics from successful senior leaders—learning through emulation how to use humor to break tension in meetings, for instance, and how to shape opinion without being overbearing. Essentially, the chameleons faked it until they found what worked for them. Noticing their efforts, their managers provided coaching and mentoring and shared tacit knowledge.
As a result, the chameleons arrived much faster at an authentic but more skillful style than the true-to-selfers in the study, who continued to focus solely on demonstrating technical mastery. Often the true-to-selfers concluded that their managers were “all talk and little content” and therefore not suitable role models. In the absence of a “perfect” model they had a harder time with imitation—it felt bogus. Unfortunately, their managers perceived their inability to adapt as a lack of effort or investment and thus didn’t give them as much mentoring and coaching as they gave the chameleons.”

This a brilliant, clever article, but the message is a simple one: Sometimes you have to 'play the game', and that is nothing to be ashamed of. You might even learn a thing or two in the process.