Your worst year is not your best story

There is a whole genre of leader posts now. "The year I almost lost the company." "The night I cried in the car park." Long, honest, lots of applause in the comments.

Turns out it might not do what we think it does.

Namrata Goyal and three colleagues ran 10 experiments with more than 2,000 people and wrote it up for HBR this month, When Being Authentic Undermines Your Leadership. Sharing a painful setback got sympathy, but little authenticity. What people read as authentic was a choice. Something unconventional you decided to do, that cost you personally, and that you told people about without being asked.

That makes sense to me. A setback is something that happened to you. A choice shows what you stand for.

One detail I keep thinking about: it worked best for established leaders. Build the credibility first, then step away from convention.

So fewer stories about the hard times. More about what you chose, and what it cost you.