currently I am studying to become an
expert in helping organizations to
succeed but thanks to my esteemed role
as a proud auntie to my five-year-old
niece nyla and one year old nephew Aydin
I am already an expert at Disney movies
how you ask well I have seen frozen at
least a hundred times if you haven’t
seen frozen it’s a movie about two
sisters one of whom spoiler alert has
magical ice powers when the oldest
sister Elsa goes to become clean people
learn of her magic powers and
characterize her as a monster and drive
her away from the kingdom the younger
sister Anna goes on an adventure to get
her sister to realize that she is loved
and accepted with or without magic nyla
loves it she thinks it is the greatest
movie of all time but all time to her is
only five years so what does she know
but you know what experts agree with
nyla
because they say that frozen is the
first Disney movie to have strong female
protagonists that don’t depend on a
handsome prince to save the day I
however completely disagree with this
what about Milan Milan was definitely my
favorite hero in the Disney repertoire
and came 15 years before frozen in the
movie based on the Chinese folktale
Mulan stole her elderly father’s armor
and pretended to be a man so that she
could join the army in his place she
became instrumental in the fight against
the hunt and saved all of China despite
kicking butt and saving her people I
think that frozen gets the title of the
first Disney movie with strong female
protagonists because Elsa and Anna were
able to be the hair
girls as themselves whereas Milan had to
literally become someone else similarly
we can think that organizations are
asking for employees that are more like
Elsa and Anna than Milan they are saying
bring your whole self to work and
scientists are calling this authenticity
authenticity is defined as the degree to
which a person acts in line with his or
her core identity at work that means
being able to share your original ideas
express your true feelings and operate
within your true values does this mean
that if you don’t like your coworker you
can be rude to them or give them a
poisonous Apple of course not and that’s
a different Disney movie I need you guys
to stay focused what that does mean is
that you are able to express your unique
contribution to your organization as
yourself for example as a woman as a
millennial or as an african-american
this push for authenticity is awesome
because it shows that organizations care
about employee happiness
authenticity has been shown to relate to
overall well-being it strengthens work
relationships and it increases
organizational satisfaction so in other
words employees are happy from the
business perspective this looks amazing
because happy employees are more
productive employees and better
performing employees so the bottom line
the money looks great but here’s the
question who is free to be authentic we
know that Elsa and Milan both had
trouble being their authentic selves
organizational researchers such as
myself study how those with stigmatized
or minority identities can only present
pieces of them
rather than their true authentic self
because their whole self is not valued
or appreciated in the workplace
presenting their whole self maybe faced
with discrimination bullying or possibly
even losing their jobs people feel like
they have to wear a suit of armor in
order to be accepted and researchers
find that having to wear this suit of
armor is taxing the energy spent making
this impression could be better spent
actually doing their jobs as a person
with magic also felt that she had to
hide part of herself conceal it don’t
feel it don’t let it show and
researchers are calling this invisible
stigmatized identity lesbian and gay
employees religious minorities and those
with mental or chronic illnesses for
example may feel that they need to hide
a part of themselves in order to be
accepted take the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
rule of the military it banned the
revealing of sexual identity for lesbian
and gay personnel and it wasn’t removed
until 2011 this organizational policy
literally punished authenticity my lab
my diversity of research lab did
research to find out what are the
consequences of having to hide a part of
yourself with the resources and
different persons with disabilities here
at MSU we found that students that felt
they had the higher part of themselves
such as dyslexia or depression have
lower life satisfaction in less
satisfaction with the school in another
research study on religious minorities
at work we learned that those who
thought they had to hide that identity
had lower satisfaction lower well-being
and more intentions to quit their jobs
and those who are able to express this
identity had exactly the opposite
they had higher well-being and more
satisfaction network now Milan had a
very different issue her obvious
identity couldn’t even get her the job
she had to disguise herself the best way
that she could in order to be accepted
researchers call this a visible
stigmatized identity women people of
color differently abled people or even
those with accents may feel that they
have to hide a part of themselves
because of the stereotypes that they
face
we found that women and men leaders can
have the exact same behavior in the
workplace but they be perceived
differently because of gender roles when
women are strong or assertive or express
negative emotions in the workplace they
are seen as the evil queen of the office
where men are celebrated or even
promoted for the exact same behavior in
another research study we found that
women have to work harder to present
themselves as strong ambitious leaders
as compared to men but here’s the thing
we are leaders we are heroes and when we
have to work harder to prove it it
diminishes our ability to just be
ourselves
the stress of this inauthentic
presentation leads to a number of
negative consequences including physical
and psychological stress lower quality
work relationships and ultimately
dissatisfaction with their jobs so
people are not happy and organizations
are losing money so how can we fix these
mixed messages of bring your whole self
to work but not that piece or be your
authentic self
but I’ll judge you if you do first we
have to realize that change is not easy
or without consequence
heroes are not
Xero’s because the ride is smooth but
let’s write our own scenes let’s write
our own movies and see how we can be
heroes seem one we must look around and
say what is the reality here in my
workplace do your leaders allow you to
speak without being stereotyped even if
you don’t wear a job how might your
organization be unsupportive of that
cultural practice even if you can walk
without assistance
consider where you hold your campus
meetings for those who cannot even if
you don’t have magical ice powers
consider if your kingdom wouldn’t like a
princess who could build a snowman scene
– now that we have identified a problem
we have to use our courage to not only
say this is reality how do we deal with
it but this is reality how do we change
it most heroes don’t start off with a
grand plan or seek the glory of being
the best hero ever they just start off
by doing what’s right take Milan for
example she had no no idea she would
become such a legend but she did what
she felt in her heart she needed to do
in order to protect her family theme 3
we must start with those closest to us
research shows that we have the biggest
impact on our family and on our friend
so at the dinner table when grandpa
makes that homophobic remark start a
conversation educate your friend when
she makes a racist joke fight with your
niece and nephew about what the greatest
Disney movie is these will be the most
challenging but the most rewarding ways
to start our journey to authenticity now
with these three scenes you may realize
that you aren’t Elsa or Milan with the
stigmatized identity and that’s okay you
can be honor honor was a true hero
because she was the one who made the way
for her sister to be accepted and be
loved with the courage and tenacity of a
Disney hero we are on our way to better
workplaces and also better versions of
ourselves if we allow people to be their
authentic self imagine the beautiful
mosaic that we can create together
whether you are Elsa or Anna or Mulan
you can be a hero in your environment
just the way you are thank you
[Applause]
expert in helping organizations to
succeed but thanks to my esteemed role
as a proud auntie to my five-year-old
niece nyla and one year old nephew Aydin
I am already an expert at Disney movies
how you ask well I have seen frozen at
least a hundred times if you haven’t
seen frozen it’s a movie about two
sisters one of whom spoiler alert has
magical ice powers when the oldest
sister Elsa goes to become clean people
learn of her magic powers and
characterize her as a monster and drive
her away from the kingdom the younger
sister Anna goes on an adventure to get
her sister to realize that she is loved
and accepted with or without magic nyla
loves it she thinks it is the greatest
movie of all time but all time to her is
only five years so what does she know
but you know what experts agree with
nyla
because they say that frozen is the
first Disney movie to have strong female
protagonists that don’t depend on a
handsome prince to save the day I
however completely disagree with this
what about Milan Milan was definitely my
favorite hero in the Disney repertoire
and came 15 years before frozen in the
movie based on the Chinese folktale
Mulan stole her elderly father’s armor
and pretended to be a man so that she
could join the army in his place she
became instrumental in the fight against
the hunt and saved all of China despite
kicking butt and saving her people I
think that frozen gets the title of the
first Disney movie with strong female
protagonists because Elsa and Anna were
able to be the hair
girls as themselves whereas Milan had to
literally become someone else similarly
we can think that organizations are
asking for employees that are more like
Elsa and Anna than Milan they are saying
bring your whole self to work and
scientists are calling this authenticity
authenticity is defined as the degree to
which a person acts in line with his or
her core identity at work that means
being able to share your original ideas
express your true feelings and operate
within your true values does this mean
that if you don’t like your coworker you
can be rude to them or give them a
poisonous Apple of course not and that’s
a different Disney movie I need you guys
to stay focused what that does mean is
that you are able to express your unique
contribution to your organization as
yourself for example as a woman as a
millennial or as an african-american
this push for authenticity is awesome
because it shows that organizations care
about employee happiness
authenticity has been shown to relate to
overall well-being it strengthens work
relationships and it increases
organizational satisfaction so in other
words employees are happy from the
business perspective this looks amazing
because happy employees are more
productive employees and better
performing employees so the bottom line
the money looks great but here’s the
question who is free to be authentic we
know that Elsa and Milan both had
trouble being their authentic selves
organizational researchers such as
myself study how those with stigmatized
or minority identities can only present
pieces of them
rather than their true authentic self
because their whole self is not valued
or appreciated in the workplace
presenting their whole self maybe faced
with discrimination bullying or possibly
even losing their jobs people feel like
they have to wear a suit of armor in
order to be accepted and researchers
find that having to wear this suit of
armor is taxing the energy spent making
this impression could be better spent
actually doing their jobs as a person
with magic also felt that she had to
hide part of herself conceal it don’t
feel it don’t let it show and
researchers are calling this invisible
stigmatized identity lesbian and gay
employees religious minorities and those
with mental or chronic illnesses for
example may feel that they need to hide
a part of themselves in order to be
accepted take the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
rule of the military it banned the
revealing of sexual identity for lesbian
and gay personnel and it wasn’t removed
until 2011 this organizational policy
literally punished authenticity my lab
my diversity of research lab did
research to find out what are the
consequences of having to hide a part of
yourself with the resources and
different persons with disabilities here
at MSU we found that students that felt
they had the higher part of themselves
such as dyslexia or depression have
lower life satisfaction in less
satisfaction with the school in another
research study on religious minorities
at work we learned that those who
thought they had to hide that identity
had lower satisfaction lower well-being
and more intentions to quit their jobs
and those who are able to express this
identity had exactly the opposite
they had higher well-being and more
satisfaction network now Milan had a
very different issue her obvious
identity couldn’t even get her the job
she had to disguise herself the best way
that she could in order to be accepted
researchers call this a visible
stigmatized identity women people of
color differently abled people or even
those with accents may feel that they
have to hide a part of themselves
because of the stereotypes that they
face
we found that women and men leaders can
have the exact same behavior in the
workplace but they be perceived
differently because of gender roles when
women are strong or assertive or express
negative emotions in the workplace they
are seen as the evil queen of the office
where men are celebrated or even
promoted for the exact same behavior in
another research study we found that
women have to work harder to present
themselves as strong ambitious leaders
as compared to men but here’s the thing
we are leaders we are heroes and when we
have to work harder to prove it it
diminishes our ability to just be
ourselves
the stress of this inauthentic
presentation leads to a number of
negative consequences including physical
and psychological stress lower quality
work relationships and ultimately
dissatisfaction with their jobs so
people are not happy and organizations
are losing money so how can we fix these
mixed messages of bring your whole self
to work but not that piece or be your
authentic self
but I’ll judge you if you do first we
have to realize that change is not easy
or without consequence
heroes are not
Xero’s because the ride is smooth but
let’s write our own scenes let’s write
our own movies and see how we can be
heroes seem one we must look around and
say what is the reality here in my
workplace do your leaders allow you to
speak without being stereotyped even if
you don’t wear a job how might your
organization be unsupportive of that
cultural practice even if you can walk
without assistance
consider where you hold your campus
meetings for those who cannot even if
you don’t have magical ice powers
consider if your kingdom wouldn’t like a
princess who could build a snowman scene
– now that we have identified a problem
we have to use our courage to not only
say this is reality how do we deal with
it but this is reality how do we change
it most heroes don’t start off with a
grand plan or seek the glory of being
the best hero ever they just start off
by doing what’s right take Milan for
example she had no no idea she would
become such a legend but she did what
she felt in her heart she needed to do
in order to protect her family theme 3
we must start with those closest to us
research shows that we have the biggest
impact on our family and on our friend
so at the dinner table when grandpa
makes that homophobic remark start a
conversation educate your friend when
she makes a racist joke fight with your
niece and nephew about what the greatest
Disney movie is these will be the most
challenging but the most rewarding ways
to start our journey to authenticity now
with these three scenes you may realize
that you aren’t Elsa or Milan with the
stigmatized identity and that’s okay you
can be honor honor was a true hero
because she was the one who made the way
for her sister to be accepted and be
loved with the courage and tenacity of a
Disney hero we are on our way to better
workplaces and also better versions of
ourselves if we allow people to be their
authentic self imagine the beautiful
mosaic that we can create together
whether you are Elsa or Anna or Mulan
you can be a hero in your environment
just the way you are thank you
[Applause]
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