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Dangers of Getting Too Personal (Even When Everyone Says, “Be Authentic”)
Storytelling can backfire in entrepreneurship or corporate careers when you share a personal story before your audience is ready to hear it.
Whether in your own business or corporate life, professionals often find they are challenged to maintain a line between business and personal lives.
Increasingly the boundaries are blurred as we work from home. We’re often advised to be “genuine” and “authentic.” We’re often ill-advised to be “vulnerable.”
But over-disclosing can be hazardous to a career, whether you’re employed by yourself or an outside entity.
You’ll acquire a new (and probably unwanted) identity.
You become “the person who survived bankruptcy” or “the person whose brother went to prison.”
Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie presented a memorable TED talk many years ago. Once someone hears a critical fact about you, they will associate that one single story with you. As a college freshman in Connecticut, she found her roommate associated “Nigeria” with an outdated story about Africa. The roommate was deeply disappointed when Chimamanda’s “tribal music” playlist featured Mariah Carey.
