Bringing your whole self to work isn’t a brand-new idea, people have been talking about this concept for years. What’s often missing from the discussion, and which this blog addresses, is how specifically to bring your self to work. It’s a subject dear to our heart, and the title “Whole Wide Work” captures some of its essence.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi often speaks of the concept of engaging your full self on the job, and at the 2008 Catalyst Awards Conference she dove into some detail . She says:
You absolutely have to bring your whole self to work. You cannot create a persona for yourself [at] work that’s different than the person that left the house. You just can’t do that because if you try to do that you’re living a lie and I’ll tell you from my perspective maybe it’s PepsiCo, I don’t know but I don’t believe that I walk in to work and sort of a shield comes in front of me because if I have an argument with my daughter at home, okay and I have lots of run ins with my older one, I’ll walk in to the office and tell everybody “half an hour decompression. I just had a blow up with my daughter. Leave me alone.” So they say fine…
It may be easy for her to proclaim these sentiments, because she’s the boss of everyone at PepsiCo! Yet her words feel genuine, and she makes a compelling case. From her story, we see that sometimes bringing your whole self to work relates directly to productivity, and other times it’s a prompt for support or accommodation. In every instance, feeling free to reveal your whole self helps keep you grounded in the present.
Does anybody in your workplace talk about the benefits of bringing your whole self to work? How do their ideas impact your job?
Great Title! Made me click immediately LOL! I wish there was more of this in the workplace. Which is probably why I’m creating this environment as an entrepreneur.
This is exciting to hear, @Candace! Your business will likely thrive as a result of your efforts to create this environment.