As I illustrate in my forthcoming book, we live in an age of authenticity worship. From corporate mission statements urging employees to “bring their whole selves to work” to self-help gurus insisting that “being real” is the only path to fulfillment, we’ve elevated authenticity to near-spiritual status. But our obsession has a curious twist: we tend to grant a special premium to negative authenticity. A leader’s blunt criticism, antisocial rant, public sulk, or contrarian tirade is often praised as “refreshingly honest,” while their polite diplomacy is dismissed as fake.

Somewhere along the way, we started believing that authentic displays of antisocial emotion (e.g., anger, contempt, derision) are somehow more real, and thus more valuable, than well-mannered restraint. As if telling a c

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