In this installment of the July Column, we discuss personal authenticity and the cost of living behind masks.
How many masks can a business leader wear to be accepted in the marketplace? In day-to-day corporate and social life, it’s easy to fall into the temptation of crafting custom masks: that of the infallible leader, the employee who never says “no,” or the always-happy business partner. We create perfect personal brands, but ones that are deeply disconnected from who we really are.
We see this disconnection in the story that gives its title to *The Madman* (1918) by Gibran Khalil Gibran. In it, the protagonist wakes up and discovers that the seven masks he had made for himself to represent his different facets have been stolen. Finding himself stripped of all pretense before the sun, he experiences boundless freedom for the first time and blesses the thieves who stripped him of his disguises. He discovers that the security of fitting in is, in reality, a form of slavery.
Within the context of your “I Am, Inc.”—the personal company you’ve been running since the day you were born—operating according to others’ expectations is an unsustainable strategy. The cost of keeping up appearances is exhausting your three budget coins: your time, your attention, and your energy. No company can survive if it spends its resources on maintaining a facade of a product that doesn't generate real value.
True corporate sustainability in your life—“Yo Soy S.A.S.”—begins when you align your plans with who you truly are. Shedding the masks of the “script written by others”—or rather, of the “egocentric self”—is not an act of madness; it is the most mature strategic decision for your personal organization—the first step taken by someone who decides to lead themselves. Ultimately, the most important market to which you must be transparently accountable is your own conscience.
With PAS: Presence, Authenticity, and Sustainability,
Julio Cesar Tamayo Betancur
Living authentically requires recognizing the face that lies beneath the masks. Your Inner City, available in our store, is the roadmap to self-discovery for that journey.
And if you want to take the next step, sign up for free at Start Your Own Life Company, where you'll sign your own Articles of Incorporation — the symbolic document that seals your commitment as the CEO of your life.
