Is Having Two Identities a Lack of Integrity?

By February 7, 2012

“Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.” — Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg believes that we should all have one uniform identity, but in the real world that’s not how life works. In fact it’s expected of me to act completely different when I’m in the office than I do with my friends. Real life works in the context of the situation at hand. Although I may approach each situation differently, my level of integrity remains the same in each situation. The issue has nothing to do with integrity in my humble opinion.

If someone has two personas that are both anchored in one core value system, there is no lack of integrity. It’s important to adapt to the situation at hand while remaining true to your set of established beliefs. When people have multiple identities with conflicting belief systems, that’s when there is a lack of integrity. Living in the world of social media we all need to be cautious about which bits and pieces of ourself we reveal publicly. Does that mean we lack integrity?

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.” -unknown