Marc Andreessen says you shouldn’t bring your whole self to work

• Marc Andreessen spoke out against sharing too much personal data in the workplace and called for professionalism.
• Some pandemic-era norms around remote work and DEI appear to be shifting.
• Experts recommend balancing authenticity and professionalism to maintain harmony in the workplace.

Marc Andreessen doesn’t need to know everything about you.

In a post on

“Leave yourself at home and behave like a professional and an adult at work and in public,” wrote Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz.

Andreessen is not the first to reject the idea. But workplace norms around things like office attire, remote work, and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts appear to be drifting further and further away from pandemic-era mores.

Megan Reitz, co-author of the book “Speak Out, Listen Up,” previously told Business Insider that it might sound good to immerse yourself in work — or at least make some workers feel like their bosses care about their employees , namely about people – but often has limits.

“When managers and executives say, ‘Bring your whole self to work,’ they are ignoring the terms and conditions of the business,” Reitz said.

These terms could concern sensitive topics such as politics. In April, Google fired more than two dozen employees who staged sit-ins at the company’s offices in California and New York.

CEO Sundar Pichai said in a memo to employees at the time that some measures were not appropriate for the office.

“This is a company and not a place where one can act in a way that disturbs colleagues or makes them feel unsafe, to try to use the company as a personal platform or to argue about disturbing issues or about politics debate,” he wrote.

Andreessen’s comments follow a contentious US election. In an episode of their podcast “The Ben and Marc Show,” Andreessen and his A16z co-founder Ben Horowitz celebrated Donald Trump’s re-election. Andreessen described Trump’s victory as an antidote to the “repression” he and other crypto industry founders experienced under the Biden administration.

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An attempt to promote authenticity

Ella Washington, a professor of practice at Georgetown University, previously told BI that the idea of ​​showing up to work with flags flying became increasingly popular in the 2010s. However, she added that this must be done within reason and in accordance with what is acceptable in an organization.

“It’s meant to be said in a way that’s supposed to promote authenticity, but the reality is that in most workplaces you can’t bring your whole self,” Washington said. “You can probably bring your whole professional self.”

She said workplace leaders need to define what is acceptable and then workers can determine whether the organization’s values ​​align with their own.

“When it comes to business, it shouldn’t just be based on our personal politics,” she said. “And I know it’s hard for people to say that because it’s like, ‘Okay, wait. I can bring my whole self to work, but I can’t talk politics.'”

Jake Telkamp, ​​an assistant professor at Augusta University’s Hull College of Business in Georgia, previously told BI that heated discussions about politics in the workplace leave people feeling exhausted and less inclined to help their colleagues. Plus, Telkamp said, an argument probably won’t change someone’s mind.

He argued that leaders and workers should instead focus on making people feel valued, regardless of their background.

“When there was a high level of this, the negative effect of having liberals and conservatives on the same team diminished,” Telkamp said.