Don’t tell people to be their real selves when they can be so much better than that. It’s time to emancipate employees from the shackles of authenticity.

What do we mean when we talk about equality? What should we mean?

When should it be OK to punish someone for behavior outside of work? And when keeping your job requires keeping your mouth shut, what are the implications inside and outside your company?

Where should you draw the line when employees engage in bad behavior? Should you care about all hanky panky or just specific actions? Or specific workers? Or at specific times?

What if achieving outcomes and assessing people based on achieving outcomes are not the same? What if focusing on results is not the best way to get results? What if it’s actually the worst?

As HR professionals, we throw around a buzzword that not only lacks real meaning — it’s actually counterproductive. In actuality, we do not — and should not — want authentic employees or leaders. So what do we want exactly?