“Don’t bring your authentic self to work. I don’t want your authentic self to work. I want your professional self. I want your respectful self,” she told the Diary of a CEO podcast. “I want your empathetic self. I want your competent self. You can bring your authentic self to a Thanksgiving meal with your family if you’d like to.” 

Poumpouras, a Queens, N.Y., native, was a U.S. Secret Service special agent, polygraph examiner, and interrogator who served from 2000 to 2012, protecting U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and George H.W. Bush. She’s now a law enforcement and national security analyst, the bestselling author of Becoming Bulletproof, and an adjunct professor at the City University of New York. 

“Could you imagine if I brought my authentic New York self to every interrogation I did?” she asked, recounting an interrogation from years ago in which she had to interview a 16-year-old boy who had allegedly assaulted a 3-year-old little girl.  

“What would my authentic self say? ‘What are you thinking? How could you? It’s a 3-year old.’ No, I brought my professional self,” she said. 

What mattered more in that moment was getting a confession, she said, so she could find out what happened so the little girl wouldn’t be victimized again. “‘Okay, tell me what happened. Tell me more,’” she recalled saying. “Non-judgment. Poker face. You know why? Because what I think, my authentic self, is irrelevant.”

Poumpouras also argues bringing your authentic self to work puts the spotlight on one individual instead of prioritizing teamwork.

“Don’t come in and be phony. Nobody wants a phony. But [the] authentic self has become me, me, me, me, me. Everybody, check me out,” she said. “I was irrelevant. When you show up to work, wherever you work, [ask] what are you bringing to bring value to the whole team, because your authentic self could be, ‘I’m bringing my problems, I’m bringing my opinions. I’m bringing my judgments.’” 

“Honestly, nobody cares,” she added. 

What experts say about authenticity at work

In a recent Science of Personality podcast episode, Ryne Sherman, chief science officer at Hogan Assessment Systems, also said authenticity at the workplace has its drawbacks.

“Bringing your authentic self to work could get you into trouble,” he said. It can cause professionalism problems, interpersonal conflict, and hinder career development, he added, giving the example of responding angrily by screaming, stomping, or sending a harshly worded email. While that behavior might feel authentic at the moment, it’s clearly unprofessional.

“When we resist doing those things, we are being inauthentic,” Sherman said. “We’re not responding in a way that is consistent with our true feelings.” But that’s a good thing, he added.

Other studies, however, show authenticity in the workplace can have its merits. Research by Cynthia S. Wang and other co-researchers at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, published in March, said authenticity at work can improve well-being, colleague relationships, and organizational commitment.

Wang found, though, that this can be particularly difficult for marginalized and minority groups at work. 

“What we’re talking about is actual authenticity—the ability to express yourself—which is slightly different from the idea of inclusion,” Wang said. “You can include somebody in a meeting, for example, but they still may not feel comfortable with being authentic and speaking up.”

Still, Poumpouras argues authenticity in the workplace inhibits high performance.

“You get sloppiness. Everybody’s doing their own thing,” she said. “That’s not a team.

“If you’re team-oriented, you leave your authentic self here, and you bring your genuine self, who genuinely cares about the mission, who genuinely cares to do a good job, who genuinely knows that it’s not about you, it’s about the collective team,” she added.

A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on September 26, 2025.

More on authenticity at work:

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The 115-year-old luxury fashion house may be synonymous with heritage and exclusivity. But in her first-ever sit-down interview, Chanel’s CPO and COO Claire Isnard says the brand is far less interested in where candidates come from than who they are.

“When we look for talent, the first thing that we look for is personalities. You know, values,” Isnard exclusively tells Fortune. 

“The first thing that we look for is personality and the fit for the culture. Are they going to be a good fit with our high standards of excellence, integrity, collaboration, and long-term?”

“If people have big egos and want to work solo or are mercenaries doing things only for the short-term, they’re not going to fit,” Isnard says. 

The second thing she’s looking out for is a learning mindset. Skills, she says, come last. “But the other two are absolutely necessary.”

And unlike many of its competitors, Isnard stresses that Chanel doesn’t handpick talent from “one or two” elite schools. Instead, the company intentionally recruits from a broad range of backgrounds to ensure a diverse mix of perspectives and personalities at HQ.

How Chanel tests for personality

Isnard doesn’t rely on sneaky coffee cup tests or trick questions to assess character. Instead, she listens closely to how candidates tell their own story.

“I always ask, what is your story? What has shaped you, what has helped you to become the person that you are today?” she says.

From there, she’s looking for authenticity—especially around how you’ve dealt with any setbacks.

“You hear so much. You can already see if the person has learned from the failure, if people are vulnerable enough to tell you that they had a difficult moment or not.”

And if they give surface-level responses, she’s not afraid to probe deeper: “You can ask them also to describe who they are, what people think of them, and how the feedback they have received has been.”

Isnard says the way candidates tell their story reveals a lot about them: whether they can admit their faults, handle life’s inevitable ups and downs, and bounce back after.

Everybody wants to work at Chanel—Isnard’s words. So another big telltale sign that they’re a good egg (and not just wanting to add the glossy brand name to their LinkedIn profile) is whether they ask any questions. She says that’s a sure-tale sign that the candidate is actually interested in the job at hand, beyond the brand.

“There is almost an emotional attachment to this brand. That’s why you need to go deeper.”

The CEOs of Duolingo and Eventbrite are fans of personality tests too

Job-seekers already have to jump through flaming hoops to land a gig, navigating dinner tests and a mountain of ‘ghost’ postings. Now they’re increasingly being handed personality tests. 

As performance personality testing company Hogan Assessments told Fortune, personality tests aren’t new, but they’re currently trending as bosses double down on quality over quantity when it comes to talent. And it could actually be a good thing for young workers.

The CEO of Sweet Loren’s gives every new hire a personality test—and they don’t get the job if they’re too corporate, giving a perhaps unintended boost to Gen Z, who happen to be more entrepreneurial than previous generations. Meanwhile, Eventbrite’s CEO, Julia Hartz, told Fortune she is analyzing workers’ personalities to help reduce bias.

The shift comes as millions of Gen Zers find themselves unemployed. With more than 1.2 million applications submitted for fewer than 17,000 open graduate roles in the U.K. alone last year, personality tests could level the playing field in assessing workers, rather than it being about who went to the most prestigious school or has the snazziest experience under their belt. 

And some firms really are just hiring for vibes: “We’re looking for people who have fun working,” Luis von Ahn, CEO of Duolingo, said of the company’s hiring plans.

That’ll be music to Gen Z’s ears, many of whom are set on being the company’s “chief vibes officer” and bringing the joy back into the office amid gloomy RTO mandates, constant layoffs, and increased workloads. 

The world’s fifth wealthiest man started buying properties in the 400-resident town of Manalapan, Fla. in 2022, and since then has pumped $450 million into two landmark properties, Bloomberg reported. Ellison set a Florida record for the purchase of a $173 million estate spanning 16-acres that includes both beachfront and lakefront property. And in August 2024, he paid $277 million for the town’s biggest structure, a 300-plus room hotel, the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, according to Bloomberg.

The hotel stands on the grounds of the original La Coquille Club, which in the 1950’s reportedly hosted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as well as members of the Ford and Vanderbilt families. In the ’80s the original club was razed, but it still exists in name and is part of what is now the Eau Palm Beach hotel. Manalapan property owners can become members of the beach club without paying initiation fees or annual dues, according to the Town of Manalapan’s website.

For years, the ultra-rich have increasingly homed in on Florida properties. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has bought three properties on the Florida island Indian Creek, near Miami. Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel, has also spent an estimated $450 million over the years amassing a 25-acre spread in Palm Beach.

In Manalapan, several beachfront homes along the same road as Ellison’s property have sold for tens of millions of dollars, according to Zillow. Yet, Manalapan’s mayor John Deese told Fortune that the recent high-price purchases as well as Ellison’s investments in the town are more than welcome.

“Manalapan has for many years been one of the highest ranked communities in terms of home sales prices in the United States. The recent sales have just added to the overall success of the real estate market in south Florida. We feel very fortunate that Mr. Ellison and others chose Manalapan for their residential and commercial property investments,” Deese said in an email.

Ellison’s purchase of the Eau Palm Beach hotel now serves as a prime attraction for high-net-worth potential buyers. Stewart Satter, the local developer of a recently listed $285 million mansion adjacent to Ellison’s property in Manalapan, said Ellison’s plans for the hotel could become a focal point of the area.

“The hotel has the potential to be an extraordinary property in the town,” Satter told Bloomberg. “And Ellison certainly has a reputation for operating some beautiful resorts.”

Ellison purchased the majority of the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012 for an estimated $300 million, and through his company, Pulama Lanai, has remodeled the island’s two Four Seasons resort hotels, and received praise for new, ultra-luxe touches. Among the additions debuted in 2016 at the Four Seasons Resort Lanai were a $21,000 per night “Alii Royal Suite,” as well as grotto-style pools and iPad Air devices in every room to order room service and housekeeping, among other amenities, according to SFGate.

At the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, Ellison has also promised renovations and has installed a pop-up Nobu restaurant on-site, Bloomberg reported. Nobu appears to be a favorite of Ellison’s. He and Tesla CEO Elon Musk brought Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang there last year to beg him for more GPUs. Ellison said he picked up the tab. 

Another draw of Manalapan and the surrounding areas is the proximity to Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s “Winter White House,” where he often spends weekends, according to Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Sachs. 

“Every place in that area is having a moment because of Donald Trump,” Sachs told Bloomberg. “You are so close to Mar-a-Lago, you can get a membership and everyone knows that he’s very public there.”

A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on March 21, 2025.

More on real estate:

• In a frozen luxury housing market, buyers are asking to ‘try before they buy’ and having sleepovers in multimillion-dollar mansions
• Gen Z is defiantly ‘giving up’ on ever owning a home and is spending more than saving, working less, and making risky investments, study shows
• A ‘new era’ in the housing market is about to begin as affordability finally improves ‘for the first time in a bunch of years,’ economist says

Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.