Individualism vs Fitting In

How many of us face this fitting in culture issue?, can we be ourselves at work? how much of expressing individual characteristic is ok before we can get fired? Well all of us face these questions every day, and many more specially these days because we have such a diverse work force, in terms of age, gender, culture and region.

Recently I attended the Women conference at HBS, and trust me readers this blog is not about bashing up men at all. However this blog is about; should we be someone else at work (as someone said to me once a different compartment) or just be who we are as a person. I was very impressed with the facts that were presented during the conference, though they were more focused on gender difference at the work world. But one of the CEO that I met in the conference made me start thinking in a little different direction.

She was dressed not in a conventional suit or outfit that corporate environment wants us to wear. She was dressed in the style that she was comfortable in- prada shoes, short purple skirt and hair extensions. She has been a very successful women, she run 75 companies and has an asset over $7billion. Her thoughts were very unconventional and she had no BS, she was a straight shooter which no one wants to hear or be these days.

What moved me most was that she was not afraid to be herself wherever she goes or works. She worked for one of the biggest financial firm before she started her own business.

Can we all be like her or we are scared to be outcast by the team? If we are like her who is not afraid to be herself/himself can we be successful in the corporate world.

I know someone who is very dear to me is changing himself just to fit in to the banking and finance world? Is this right are we creating clones? where is the true diversity that we all talk about? Can we become successful without being clones? These are the answers I am still trying to figure out, let me know your thoughts