Rebecca Thorman over at Modite has a great post on prioritizing your authenticity.  Says Rebecca:

“I get miffed when others claim to be environmentally concerned, and are blatantly not. Like the people who shop at Whole Foods, and think that gets them a golden ticket to the garden of earthly delights, even though they have a SUV parked in the lot. You may be one of those people. That’s okay. Just stop saying you care about the environment. Because you don’t.  Don’t act like somebody you’re not, because you will have no credibility.  The most powerful brands don’t have to broadcast themselves. They are simply true by example.  Besides, it makes your life harder to keep up an image that’s not authentic.”

Sometimes, in the midst of a talk I’m giving, an audience member will call me out on the concept of a corporate persona.  See, I advocate that all twenty and early thirty-somethings display a strong corporate persona – and the mature, professional, and competent face you project to the work world.  Some audience members think I am suggesting they be fake, and that even if they hate their jobs, they should pretend that they love them.

Rebecca’s point about authenticity is important in this debate.  Part of having a strong corporate persona is in fact being sincere, and if you are feeling 100% negative about your job, that’s going to come across.  People will see through it, and you might as well have had a temper tantrum in front of them.

Instead, search for something in the situation that’s positive, something about your work that you enjoy.  After all, there has to be at least ONE reason you took the position in the first place.  Maybe it’s that “future directions” speech by the CEO that really pumped you up, or the fact that you were responsible for making a single customer’s day better.  The point is, you’ll do yourself and your colleagues a favor if you’re able to find something to be genuinely enthusiastic about, and then reach for ways to extend its influence into other, less palatable areas of your work.